FTX: The Lehman Brothers of 2022- A Lesson for the Indian Crypto Regime?

The recent fall of FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, has sent shockwaves across the crypto community. The rapid collapse of FTX has resulted in parallels being drawn with the infamous downfall of Lehman Brothers; in fact, many have branded the event as crypto’s ‘Lehman Brothers moment’. In this regard, a comparison of the two events is important to bring to light the adverse effects that ill-thought and badly-timed decisions can have; the lack of proper regulation and inadequate corporate governance contributed significantly to the downfall of both these empires. The fall of FTX also imparts important lessons which need to be adopted to address the loopholes that currently plague the world of cryptocurrencies. In an unregulated market like India’s, where the regulators already have a wary attitude towards cryptocurrencies, an event like this is bound to spell significant repercussions. Thus, by way of this paper, the researchers seek to undertake an in-depth examination of the reasons for the collapse of FTX, whether it can truly be called the ‘Lehman Brothers moment’ of crypto, and the lessons which can be implemented to establish a degree of stability in the fledgling Indian crypto regime.