Kevin O’Leary and Anthony Scaramucci discuss SBF, FTX and what’s next for crypto

In a dimly purple-lit room with floor-to-ceiling windows (and a yacht outside) at the Benzinga Future of Crypto event, Kevin O’Leary, investor and founder of O’Leary Ventures, and Anthony Scaramucci, founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, took to the stage for the “Opportunities and Threats Facing Crypto” panel to discuss what crypto’s future may hold after the downfall of FTX.

The road ahead for FTX and CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be long, both panelists agreed. But Bankman-Fried is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in the court system, they said.

“If you’re asking me if it’s right or wrong what he did, based on the information I have, it was very wrong what he did,” Scaramucci said. “But I’ll leave it up to regulators and prosecutors to decide.”

Scaramucci shared that he went to see Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas on November 8, three days before the exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“I knew there was a serious problem, more serious than what was appearing to the outside world,” Scaramucci said.