He left the New York Stock Exchange to seek new fortunes. Now, Tom Farley reveals his new plans and could take over the wrecked FTX of Bankman Fried.
Tom Farley was the president of the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest, for five years.
Then, he left and switched to crypto, just before that market reached its peak.
Through his own SPAC, he attempted to take over the crypto exchange Bullish. Now, he runs it as CEO.
Last month, Coindesk, a news web for the digital market, revealed that it was bought by Bullish, with Farley as CEO.
Revealed on Linkedin
Bullish has not responded to questions about how and on what terms Farley was hired and never publicly announced the hiring.
The announcement of the CEO position came via a press release where his name was mentioned and by his Linkedin profile showing he started at Bullish in May.
Farley had then conducted an unsuccessful attempt to merge his Far Peak Acquisition with Bullish.
Confirmed Interest
Now, Tom Farley has confirmed to CNBC that Bullish is a potential buyer of FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed when founder Sam Bankman Fried was arrested, detained, and jailed.
After landing at the top of Bullish without the planned purchase, Farley has begun to market his new crypto venture.
“Strengthening Integrity”
“Driven by a firm commitment to uphold regulatory and compliance standards, Bullish aims to strengthen the integrity of the crypto market,” read a message in a paid profile in WSJ in September.
“The digital asset exchange has already achieved key milestones that suggest a more mature management model for institutional crypto trading,” added the PR text.
Bullish claims to have conducted over $300 billion in trading volume since it began operations in November 2021 and that it “consistently ranks among the top three global exchanges by spot trading volume for bitcoin,” citing data from Coin Metrics.
Exaggerated Figures?
Over the past three months, Bullish has reportedly averaged daily trading over the equivalent of $700 million.
However, Coingecko data indicates that it has rarely been over the equivalent of $40 million per day, according to Forbes.
Now, it’s about Sam Bankman Fried’s wrecked crypto exchange FTX, and its brand is, to put it mildly, of dubious value.
However, the crypto exchange is believed to have a customer database as large as nine million individuals and thus valuable in itself.
FTX? Maybe
Can FTX also be revived by Tom Farley?
Yes, according to Gary Gensler, chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it’s possible, on one condition:
“If Tom or someone else wanted to be in this field, I would say, do it within the law,” SEC’s chairman was quoted by CNBC on November 8 this year.
“Build investors’ trust in what you are and do and make sure you take the correct actions.”