Jim Cramer during Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money, signs copies of Mad Money at Borders Books in Bridgewater, New Jersey, United States. Recently, he came under fire for his criticisms of cryptocurrency exchange platforms Binance and Coinbase. PHOTO BY BOBBY BANK/GETTY IMAGES
CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, on Wednesday, came under fire for his criticisms of cryptocurrency exchange platforms Binance and Coinbase. In light of the recent lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against both platforms, Cramer has been heavily critical of their business practices.
Cramer on Wednesday equated the situation at Binance to Sam Bankman–Fried’s tainted FTX exchange, which has folded up due to a liquidity crisis.
He said, “While I am no fan about the way Coinbase has conducted itself, I am shocked that the Justice Department has avoided going after Binance which has people acknowledging it is like SBF.”
In response, Patrick Hillmann, Chief Strategy Officer at Binance, pointed out the unfair nature of Cramer’s statements and challenged him to provide evidence to back up his claims.
“Hey Jim Cramer, We will eventually revisit your on-air claims yesterday that we are guilty of the same crimes that FTX is accused [of]. I hope you have some evidence of that because Chairman Gensler very obviously and immediately distanced himself from that accusation,” he said.
Very excited for @jimcramer to spend his weekend combing through the complaint only to find that there is zero evidence of that. Those who want more insight than what Wall Street’s Magic 8 Ball can comprehend, see @matt_levine‘s analysis yesterdayhttps://t.co/VkdtliQQK4
— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) June 7, 2023
Cramer continued his criticism of the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, claiming that he had “had it with Coinbase” and refusing to discuss Binance further.
Cramer also advised investors to withdraw their funds from Binance and compared the exchange’s position to the disgraced crypto exchange FTX, calling Binance a “sham.” Earlier in March, Cramer called Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) a “strange animal.”
The lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance are the latest in a series of regulatory crackdowns on cryptocurrency exchanges by the SEC. Both exchanges are being accused of failing to register with the SEC as required by law.
In response to the lawsuits, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong criticized the SEC, stating that the agency does not provide clear definitions of what constitutes a security, leading to increased uncertainty in the industry.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Saba Fatima and Alberto Arellano
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