NEW YORK: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were under pressure on Monday following last week’s spectacular collapse of crypto exchange FTX, while rival exchanges sought to reassure jittery investors of their own stability.

Kris Marszalek, chief executive of Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com, rebutted suggestions it was in trouble, saying in a YouTube livestream that the platform would prove all naysayers wrong.

The “AMA (ask-me-anything)” session came after investors took to Twitter over the weekend to question a transfer of $400 million worth of ether tokens to the Gate.io exchange on Oct 21.

Marszalek tweeted on Sunday that the ether was recovered and returned to the exchange, but the Wall Street Journal reported withdrawals at Crypto.com rose over the weekend.

An audited proof of the exchange’s reserves will be published within weeks, Marszalek said on Monday. The exchange did not engage in any “irresponsible lending products,” he added.

Crypto.com is among the top 10 such exchanges by turnover globally, but smaller than FTX and market leader Binance. It made headlines in 2021 by signing a $700m deal to rename the Staples Center in Los Angeles as the Crypto.com Arena, and getting actor Matt Damon to promote the platform.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on Friday in one of the highest-profile crypto blowups after frenzied traders withdrew $6 billion from the platform in just 72 hours and rival exchange Binance abandoned a proposed rescue deal.

The crypto exchange’s collapse is being probed by multiple authorities, including US prosecutors in Manhattan, a source with knowledge of the investigations said on Monday.

Regulators continued to circle FTX, which had itself been a white-knight investor for failing crypto projects last summer.

The Bahamas securities regulator and financial investigators are investigating potential misconduct over FTX’s collapse, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2022