FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried ‘willing to testify’ to Congress next week

Sam Bankman-Fried has said he is willing to testify to Congress next week about the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that he led until its demise last month.

The company's founder and former chief executive, who stepped down when it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 11 November, tweeted that he would give evidence to the House financial services committee on Tuesday.

Bankman-Fried said he "won't be as helpful as I'd like" because he did not have access to "much of my data".

His offer came in response to tweets from Maxine Waters, the committee chair, who said it was clear he had information "sufficient for testimony". Waters said this week she was prepared to subpoena Bankman-Fried if he did not agree to appear before the committee on 13 December.

Bankman-Fried, who has stayed in the Bahamas where his company was headquartered, did not clarify whether he would appear in person or via video link.

He has given a number of media interviews since the FTX collapse, as well as tweeting regularly. He has denied trying to commit fraud and has said his fortune, once estimated at $26bn, has dwindled to $100,000.

FTX failed last month when customers rushed to withdraw their funds because of growing doubts about the financial strength of the company and its affiliated trading arm, Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried has said he "didn't knowingly commingle" FTX customer funds with Alameda's. Since its collapse, FTX's new management has accused its previous management of a "complete failure of corporate controls".

In its first bankruptcy filing last month, FTX said it expected to have more than 1 million individual creditors.

On Friday, Bankman-Fried tweeted that he had thought of himself as a "model CEO" who would not become lazy or disconnected, who had then created a "destructive" situation when he did. "I'm sorry," he tweeted. "Hopefully people can learn from the difference between who I was and who I could have been."

He listed specific issues he would be able to discuss with the committee, including the solvency of FTX's US business, its American customers, and possible solutions for returning assets to international clients. He also said he could talk about what he thinks led to the crash and "my own failings".