The staff of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX visited the White House this year.
Newly released documents show that employees of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges visited the presidential residence on May 12 and May 13, 2022.
The visitor log names three individuals who work at FTX. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Director of Government Relations and Policy Eloria Katz, and Head of Policy Mark Wetjen.
It appears that the FTX team did not meet with President Biden. Instead, they met with Biden’s administration policy advisor Charlotte Butash and advisor Steve Ricchetti.
The details of the meeting are unclear. However, the visit coincided with one of Sam Bankman-Fried’s appearances before Congress. Bankman-Fried and several other individuals testified on May 12 before Congress, advocating for a bill from March that would allow trading derivatives without intermediaries.
Later, on May 25, Sam Bankman-Fried attended a roundtable organized by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on the same issue. This event included many industry members.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s brother Gabriel also visited the White House along with the rest of the team. Although Gabriel is not affiliated with FTX, the two brothers have collaborated on other issues unrelated to crypto.
It is unclear whether any of these issues were discussed at the White House, but FTX’s engagement suggests that some variations on these topics were likely discussed.
FTX has established itself as a major cryptocurrency exchange since its founding in 2019. In the last 24 hours, it processed a trading volume of nearly $2 billion. The U.S. subsidiary processed an additional $220 million.
