There have been many theories about the Terra LUNA disaster and the subsequent flurry of business failures. The latest FTX crash seems to have eclipsed all of the Terra LUNA blunders, and there are many unanswered questions. Numerous people have offered their opinions on the FTX disaster, including the host of CNBC’s Mad Money, Jim Cramer and Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz. Congresswoman Maxine Wassers (D–CA) and Tesla CEO and chief Twitter officer, Elon Musk.

Mark Yusko, founder and CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, said to Kitco’s editor-in-chief Michelle Makori, that Sam Bankman Fried (SBF), was a “pawn.” Yusko stated to Kitco’s anchor that they were pawns in an extremely complex, highly-organized system designed to facilitate money laundering. He said, “It is possible that someone intended to set this example so that regulators could come and punish the industry.” Makori was told by Yusko that decentralized finance (also known as defi) threatens traditional finance.

Defi is different from traditional finance which is usually controlled by large financial institutions and banks. Yusko explained to Kitco’s broadcast host that Bitcoin ( ) and the defi challenge concepts such as central planning and fiat currency. Yusko and many other crypto supporters believe that defi offers many benefits, including greater accessibility and transparency and more security. Yusko explained to Makori that “[Blockchain] replaces faith with truth.”

“Who are today’s arbiters for trust?” Yusko explained that financial institutions, third-party intermediaries, and a $7 trillion industry are the arbiters of trust today. They would prefer not to be disrupted via defi and other digital assets. It is possible that some incumbents tried to lobby regulation to delay or obfuscate this disruption.

Yusko also suggested that it is possible that someone above SBF or Alameda Research’s Caroline Ellison worked together to accomplish a common goal at the expense the crypto industry. “This fraud was perpetrated by someone above the useful idiots,” Yusko said. The Morgan Creek CEO explained that these two men are not playing 10D Chess. “Very large amounts of money went to political parties. Yusko said that there is evidence that Sam Bankman-Fried claimed he would give $1 billion to the next election.

Yusko is very bullish on bitcoin ( Bitcoin). In a May 6, 2020 interview the Morgan Creek CEO stated that he expects the top crypto asset to reach $250,000 within five years. Yusko suggested that bitcoin could be worth anywhere from $400K to $500K. Yusko spoke with Makori about the danger of the U.S. becoming stagnant if the industry is over-regulated. Yusko stated that if we make it too difficult to regulate, crypto will soon pop up in other countries. “So, eventually, [crypto] wins.