FTX could move headquarters to the U.S. after SEC registration, says Bankman-Fried

FTX could move its headquarters from The Bahamas to the United States after registering with the regulatory agencies in the US.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, revealed that the cryptocurrency exchange could move its headquarters to the United States after registering with the US Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC).

He mentioned this during an interview at the DC Fintech Week conference Tuesday. Bankman-Fried said as much as three-quarters of FTX staff could be based in the United States. He said;

“There are absolutely things that could move us from [having] one-quarter to three-quarters of our personnel in the United States, rather than abroad.”

The FTX boss added that the cryptocurrency exchange is working with regulators and policymakers in the United States, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission to become a registered securities and derivatives exchange. He said;

“I think if we’re able to get that, we’d be in a position where we would feel much more confident, charging forward, you know, as a U.S.-based company.”

Bankman-Fried’s comment comes after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said that registering cryptocurrency exchanges and subjecting them to more oversight is a major priority for the regulatory agency. 

According to Gensler, the SEC will need to roll out new procedures for registering cryptocurrency exchanges since they also offer custodial and broker-dealer services, unlike the traditional stock market exchanges. 

He added that cryptocurrency exchanges enable the trading of commodity tokens like Bitcoin. Hence, the process for registering them will be different.

Bankman-Fried’s FTX has been one of the biggest spenders in the current bear market. Last month, FTX won a bid to acquire Voyager Digital’s assets in a deal worth around $1.4 billion.

FTX is also considering acquiring another cryptocurrency company, Celsius. Bankman-Fried revealed a few weeks ago that the cryptocurrency exchange still has $1 billion to spend on acquisitions.

He lamented that the models deployed by some cryptocurrency companies were not sustainable in the long run. Bankman-Fried added that for the industry to move forward, some changes would have to be implemented.