Personal finance guru Dave Ramsey has weighed in on the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. “I told you so,” he repeatedly said, reiterating his long-standing advice that investors should not put money into crypto.
Dave Ramsey on Bitcoin, Crypto, and the FTX Collapse
Personal finance guru and Ramsey Solutions CEO Dave Ramsey weighed in on the implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in a Dave Ramsey Show episode, published Friday.
Ramsey, a self-proclaimed personal money management expert, calls himself “America’s trusted voice on money.” He is the author of seven best-selling books that have sold more than 11 million copies altogether.
A longtime bitcoin and crypto skeptic, Ramsey called BTC “funny money” in December 2020. He also expressed his doubt that bitcoin could be cashed out, advising investors to sell their coins now. In January, he said crypto is fun and here to say but should only be a small part of a portfolio “for entertainment.”
Referencing his warning about crypto, the self-proclaimed personal finance expert said “I told you so” several times during his show that was published Friday. He recalled:
I got so much crap from the Bitcoin bros … They are pretty much like Mary Kay for young men … They can’t listen to anything. Their brains are turned off if you’re not going to do their thing.
Ramsey added that every time he advised, “don’t do crypto,” he got flooded with responses like “I’m an idiot. I’m a boomer. I’m out of touch. I don’t understand.”
He then read out a news article that likens FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to the Enron fraud and Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The cryptocurrency exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.
Noting that FTX is facing a criminal probe in the Bahamas, Ramsey commented: “If you can get the Bahamians upset enough about you that they go after you — because they’re a pretty laid-back bunch — I’m just saying you get them pissed off you have really stepped in it.” The Bahamas securities regulator has taken action to freeze FTX’s cryptocurrencies.
Ramsey exclaimed:
It’s straight-up thievery.
Ramsey proceeded to quote some crypto proponents telling him in the past: “Dave, come on, at what point, Boomer, are you going to wake up to this new and shiny wonderful thing, you don’t know what you’re talking about telling people to stay away from this, I’ve already made…” He continued:
Where is your money now? Mr. Fried took it.
“It’s all over the news for the last 48 hours. This may be the biggest fraud and theft in human history,” he stressed.
While expressing his dislike for “over-regulation” when it comes to his money, the personal finance guru admitted: “I do like a wee bit, and right now aren’t you wishing you had a wee bit of regulation with FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried.”
In conclusion, Ramsey said:
I hate that you lost money guys but I did tell you not to do this stuff.
“I just hate the spirit around this stuff and what it does to people because they get sucked into it and then they get their heads taken off,” he opined.
Following the FTX collapse, a growing number of lawmakers have called for tighter crypto regulation. While some analysts have warned about contagion risks to the entire crypto ecosystem, many people are still optimistic about the future of the industry. El Salvador‘s president said Thursday that his country will start buying BTC every day. Shark Tank star Mark Cuban explained that the FTX implosion is not a crypto blowup while Tesla CEO Elon Musk said bitcoin will make it. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell described: “The damage here is huge … We’re going to be working to undo this for years.”
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