FTX's FTT Token Jumps 90% on Gensler Comments

(FTT), the native token of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has surged by 90% following comments from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler, who warned that if anybody wants to get involved in crypto, they must "do it within the law" following a series of bids to reboot FTX.

In response to questioning over whether Tom Farley, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, was looking to buy FTX, Gensler said: "If Tom or anybody else wanted to be in this field, I would say, 'Do it within the law.'"

"Build the trust of investors in what you’re doing and ensure that you’re doing the proper disclosures, and also that you’re not commingling all these functions, trading against your customers," Gensler continued. "Or using their crypto assets for your own purposes."

There are reportedly several groups in the running to take over FTX following last week's trial that saw the company's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, receive a guilty verdict on seven criminal charges.

The speculative rally indicates hope for further upside if FTX 2.0 gets the green light, although there is no certainty that a native token would even be used in a restarted exchange. FTT is currently trading at a seven-month high of $2.30 with trading volume over the past 24 hours exceeding $300 million, according to CoinMarketCap.

In spite of optimism around a potential relaunch, a number of institutional traders expressed their concerns with the platform earlier this year citing poor latency and "tons of issues."

UPDATE (November 9, 2023, 15:26 UTC): Updates headline and opening paragraph.