FTX customers who lost all their money when the exchange collapsed should blame the SEC, Mark Cuban says

• FTX customers who lost all their money when the exchange collapsed should blame the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Mark Cuban.
• "It's the SEC that chose the wrong path to regulate crypto," he said.

Mark Cuban blames the Securities and Exchange Commission for FTX customers losing all their money when the exchange collapsed in November.

The billionaire investor weighed in on the digital asset space Monday via a lengthy tweet slamming the US financial watchdog.

"Of course they chose to litigate to regulate," Cuban said.

"It's the SEC that chose the wrong path to regulate crypto and cost billions," he added. "The SEC is not infallible."

"It makes mistakes. In this case it chose the wrong course. It was arrogant in thinking that its framework covered every possible situation."

FTX filed for bankruptcy in November after a bombshell report sparked a run on its deposits, with its collapse wiping out billions of dollars worth of customers' money.

US regulators have responded by clamping down on other exchanges, with the SEC suing both Binance and Coinbase last month.

But even before Sam Bankman-Fried's exchange failed, the regulator was wrong to have used legal action to police the exchanges and should have instead focused on helping them to follow the rules, Cuban said.

The "Shark Tank" star and Dallas Mavericks owner unfavorably compared the US to Japan – where exchanges are required to register with autorities and separate customers' funds from their own accounts.

"When FTX crashed, no one in FTX Japan lost money," Cuban wrote.

"If the USA/SEC had followed their example by setting clear regulations that required the separation of customer and business funds and clear wallet requirements, no one here would have lost money on FTX," he added.