Bitcoin was beyond the control of Sam Bankman-Fried, Wood says, while Michael Saylor says the former FTX CEO “undermined” the BTC network.
Bitcoin
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$16,931
is too “decentralized and transparent” for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, says Cathie Wood.
In a tweet on Dec. 10, the chief executive of investment giant ARK Invest delivered a fresh damning appraisal of the FTX saga.
Wood: SBF “couldn’t control” Bitcoin
As the legal ramifications of FTX’s collapse continue, Bitcoin loyalists are giving Bankman-Fried little sympathy.
ARK’s Wood is now firmly among them, not mincing her words as BTC price action continues to trade around 20% down over the month.
“The Bitcoin blockchain didn’t skip a beat during the crisis caused by opaque centralized players,” she wrote.
“No wonder Sam Bankman Fried didn’t like Bitcoin: it’s transparent and decentralized. He couldn’t control it.”
Wood linked to ARK Invest’s latest Bitcoin market summary,, in which analysts including David Puell came out as bullish on BTC despite recent setbacks.
“ARK’s conviction in decentralized and transparent public blockchains is as strong as ever,” it stated.
“The FTX and other cases like Celsius and Alameda suggest that decentralization and transparency are paramount as antidotes to the gross mismanagement that can be associated with centralized intermediaries, especially fraudulent ones.”
As Cointelegraph has reported, ARK has doubled down on its exposure to other crypto firms that are feeling the heat from FTX’s collapse. Most notably, it has increased its holding of Grayscale’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
The latest purchase of nearly 177,000 GBTC shares occurred on Nov. 21, according to data from Wood’s dedicated website, Cathie’s Ark.
Bankman-Fried has few allies in Bitcoin
Meanwhile, the FTX saga rolls on, with Bankman-Fried taking center stage as revelations continue to pour out.
Among the most recent was news that FTX subsidized crypto news outlet The Block via covert payments to its now-former CEO, Mike McCaffrey.
There are also allegations that Bankman-Fried deliberately attempted to destabilize the Bitcoin blockchain to help limit the FTX fallout.
“Sam used stolen & counterfeit money to corrupt the establishment & undermine bitcoin,” MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor tweeted over the weekend, taking a similarly hardline stance to Wood.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. How many other journalists, academics, money managers, politicians, charities, influencers, & lobbyists did he corrupt or co-opt?”
BTC/USD traded above $17,000 into the weekly close, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed, with macro volatility due in the coming week.