FTX’s Bankman-Fried has been accused of misleading the public about Bitcoin as FT is “selective” in choosing his words

FTX Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Source: A video screenshot, Youtube/HBO

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and founder of a major crypto exchange FTX, and investor in Solana (SOL), has been accused of misleading the public by leaving out important facts while slamming Bitcoin (BTC). The CEO claims his quotes were “very selectively” chosen by a mainstream media outlet known for its skepticism about Bitcoin and crypto.

In an interview with the Financial Times (FT), Bankman-Fried said that the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism that powers Bitcoin cannot scale to support millions of transactions, making the flagship cryptocurrency inefficient becomes means of payment.

“Bitcoin network is not a payments network and it is not a scaling network,” he was quoted as saying in the article titled “Bitcoin has no future as a payments network, says FTX boss.”

The CEO also promoted proof-of-stake (PoS)-powered blockchains like Solana, which has suffered multiple outages this year, saying these networks are “extremely efficient, lightweight, and have lower energy costs.”

Still, Bankman-Fried said Bitcoin still has a future as “an asset, a commodity, and a store of value” much like gold.

And while the CEO may be technically right, these statements came as a surprise to some in the crypto community, who pointed out that Bitcoin is a settlement layer that powers the rapidly growing Lightning Network (LN), a Layer 2 (L2) solution , used to make bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper than the payment network. Competing blockchains like Ethereum (ETH) also use L2 scaling solutions.

Others called Bankman-Fried’s comments “misleading” as they failed to mention the Lightning Network and speculated that he might be trying to promote Solana, a network in which he has invested heavily.

However, the crypto billionaire later said that the FT chose his “words very selectively,” acknowledging that “BTC can be [offered] on Lightning/L2s/etc.”

When the CEO testified at the Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States hearing in late 2021, he took the opportunity to highlight the benefits of PoS over PoW by calling out earlier a “low-cost, carbon-efficient” alternative.

Previously, Bankman-Fried also claimed that centralized Solana is better than decentralized Ethereum because it can support large numbers of users and transactions and enable mass adoption.
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Learn more:
– The adoption of Lightning Networks on exchanges is increasing: That’s why it’s good for Bitcoin
– Major bitcoin and crypto companies warn of “extreme” risk in proof-of-stake schemes

– Ripple’s exec campaign has no chance of forcing Bitcoin to proof-of-stake, but brace yourself for more attacks
– “PoS fanatics attacking PoW are real supervillains,” Kraken’s Powell says as US politicians press charges

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