Kevin O’Leary Warns of Crypto Innovation Fleeing US Due to Regulatory Hurdles

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Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, has expressed concerns that regulatory obstacles will drive crypto innovation away from the U.S. His comments followed a congressional hearing where Congress members grilled U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler over crypto regulation.

O’Leary Expects Crypto Innovation to Leave the U.S.

Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary, the chairman of O’Leary Ventures, shared his view on the future of the U.S. crypto industry in an interview with Fox Business on Friday.

He began by commenting on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler’s congressional hearing where he was grilled by Congress members regarding crypto. Noting that he went to Washington D.C. and watched the hearing in person, O’Leary shared: “I watched him [Gensler] get fried like a chicken. It was unbelievable. The fortitude this man must have. The abuse he was taking. It was unbelievable.”

Mr. Wonderful proceeded to explain that U.S. lawmakers are unhappy with Gensler because he is “letting innovation slip away.” The Shark Tank investor mentioned that the SEC has taken enforcement actions against all major crypto exchanges in the U.S. Noting that FTX is already out of business, he stressed that the Gensler-led SEC has sued Coinbase and .

He cautioned that while the U.S. is chasing innovation out of the country, others are rising up to take its place. He then gave an example:

This hasn’t been announced yet, but in Abu Dhabi, they’re planning the launch of a new exchange to replace both FTX and Binance.

The exchange O’Leary referred to is called M2. He noted that this crypto exchange will be “totally compliant” and “backed by billions of dollars.” He further noted that it “can be used by anybody in the world legitimately on a compliant basis.”

O’Leary added:

Where do you think all this innovation is going to go? It’s going to go to the UAE. It’s going to go to Abu Dhabi.

Moreover, he stressed that non-U.S. exchanges will “become the new standard in exchanges because you can’t hold bitcoin without an exchange for liquidity and Gensler has sued Coinbase, the largest in the U.S., which is why Fidelity and Blackrock are really unhappy because they can’t do their ETFs.” He further noted: “Abu Dhabi is putting up its hand and saying: ‘We can do it over here. If you can’t get it done there, we’ll do it here. We are the new capital of capital and we’re coming to compete.'”

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