“Digital Currency”

The collapse of FTX has dealt a catastrophic blow to crypto’s reputation and aspirations

The fall from grace was hard and fast. Only a fortnight ago Sam Bankman-Fried was in the stratosphere. ftx, his cryptocurrency exchange, then the third-largest, was valued at $32bn; his own wealth was estimated at $16bn. To the gushing venture capitalists (vcs) of Silicon Valley he was the financial genius who could wow investors while playing video games, destined, perhaps, to become the world’s first trillionaire. In Washington he was the acceptable face of crypto, communing with lawmakers and bankrolling efforts to influence its regulation.

Disgraced tech bro Sam Bankman-Fried has blamed his Harry Potter fan ex-girlfriend for the $32billion collapse of his crypto exchange FTX and claims he was ‘oblivious’ to its impending demise until it was too late.

Bankman-Fried, 30 – who lived and worked with in a 10-person ‘polycule’ in the Bahamas along with his on-off girlfriend where they all dated each other – said in a Twitter direct message interview with Vox that his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison’s company Alameda was responsible for gambling and losing his company’s money.

Asked about FTX loaning money to Alameda and whether he thought they had enough collateral to cover losses, he said ‘sometimes life creeps up on you’.

Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself

The fallen crypto CEO on what went wrong, why he did what he did, and what lies he told along the way.

Last night, Sam Bankman-Fried DMed me on Twitter.

That was surprising. I’d spoken to Bankman-Fried via Zoom earlier in the summer when I was working on a profile of him, so I reached out to him via DM on November 13, after news broke that his cryptocurrency exchange had collapsed, with billions in customer deposits apparently gone. I didn’t expect him to respond — typically, people under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice don’t return requests for comment.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and a string of A-list celebrities who backed his failed crypto trading platform have been sued in a class action lawsuit worth $11 billion.

The suit filed in Florida names stars including Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Shaquille O’Neal, Steph Curry and Larry David.

It claims Bankman-Fried, 30, and the celebrities he recruited to endorse FTX are behind losses to American consumers valued at $11 billion.

This just keeps getting better. Celebrity endorsements of worthless coins and other digital scams should have been outlawed long ago.

The U.S. and the Bahamas have discussed potentially extraditing former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried to the U.S. for questioning regarding the collapse of his company, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapsed from being a world-class crypto trading company to filing for bankruptcy last week. Bankman-Fried resides in the Bahamas, where the company is also registered. The top Democratic donor is facing burgeoning calls for investigation in the U.S.

He was on record stating it was a Ponzi scheme well before the collapse.

Well before the catastrophic collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried told everyone what he was doing. He told them about his appetite for risk. He told them some crypto exchanges were “secretly insolvent.” Last year, when declaring his net worth to be an estimated $10 billion, he said it was in “mostly illiquid” assets. Even when Bloomberg’s Matt Levine suggested he was in the “Ponzi business” during an interview in April, Bankman-Fried didn’t disagree. “I think that’s a pretty reasonable response,” he said.

I see Madoff like jail time ahead.

The $32 Billion Crypto Scammer

“The Next Warren Buffett.” That’s how Fortune magazine dubbed Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto wunderkind who wore shorts, schlubby socks, and sneakers on stage with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. But Bankman-Fried, worth an estimated $32 billion at his height, wouldn’t just be a financial oracle like Buffett. He would also be the second-coming of George Soros: By the end of this midterm election cycle, he’d become the second largest donor to the Democratic Party.

Over the past few days, all of that has come spectacularly undone.

Now, Bankman-Fried looks, at best, like the original storyline for Michael Saylor of Microstrategy during the Dotcom bust. Or, more likely, like Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos infamy. Or, with increasing plausibility, like a less civic-minded Bernie Madoff. 

Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange company FTX, funneled millions of dollars to Democratic campaigns, becoming one the party’s largest donors, second only to George Soros.

Bankman-Fried donated nearly $127 million during the midterm cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data. His company also reportedly set up a website, Aid for Ukraine, to raise funds for Ukrainians amid the ongoing war against Russia. The initiative was powered by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, FTX and Ukrainian-web company Everstake.

The founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has been accused of lying to customers amid fears the fallout from its bankruptcy could spread through “cascading contagion”.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, claimed his arch-rival, Sam Bankman-Fried, misled clients and investors as FTX spiralled out of control.

FTX had some eye-opening connections to powerful entities and individuals around the world before it all came crashing down.

FTX made waves with early endorsements by NFL legend Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and NBA superstar Stephen Curry. FTX spent big money on a Super Bowl commercial featuring “Seinfeld” creator Larry David.

FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried Sit in the Crosshairs of U.S. Prosecutors

The crypto exchange’s collapse likely exposed the company and its founder to potential criminal liability

FTX’s offshore status and its willingness to keep American traders off its Bahamas-based exchange in large part shielded the company from strict U.S. laws that govern trading and how investments can be sold to the public.

But FTX’s implosion last week and reports that it used customer funds to back an affiliate’s risky venture investments have exposed the company and its founder to potential criminal liability, according to attorneys who specialize in white-collar criminal law.

The ‘next Warren Buffett’ looks more like Jeff Skilling

In recent weeks, the world’s richest man and his flailing attempts to figure out what to do with Twitter have dominated the news cycle. However, his unhinged management-by-tweets reality show are nothing compared to an almighty tussle between two crypto-bros.

Internet magic money (aka crypto) billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, better known as SBF, is the man behind FTX, a crypto exchange. He seems to have angered fellow magic money billionaire and fremeny, Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ and CEO of the rival exchange Binance. It might have to do with FTX cozying up to regulators to get the regulations beneficial to the FTX but not its rivals.

A Ponzi scheme if ever there was.

From his home in New Zealand, the YouTuber Danny de Hek assails what he calls a dangerous and deceptive scheme, one rant at a time.

Last year, Danny de Hek was a social media guru badly in need of a social media guru. A buoyant New Zealander with geeky glasses, he dispensed advice about how to vastly expand your online audience, to a group of just 350 subscribers.

He earned a living by drop shipping electronics as he searched for ways to make serious money. Then, in February, the husband of a friend sent the 52-year-old Mr. de Hek an email crowing about a company that somehow guaranteed outsize and clockwork returns. Investors in what was then known as HyperFund — it has since been rebranded twice — could triple their money in 600 days.

FTX: Crypto giant collapses into bankruptcy

Embattled cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for bankruptcy in the US, seeking court protection as it looks for a way to return money to users.

Former boss Sam Bankman-Fried has also stepped down as chief executive, the company said.

It is a massive turn of fortunes for the 30-year-old, who had headed the world’s second largest crypto exchange.

SBF, the crypto billionaire whose entire scheme just crumbled, was a huge donor to Biden and the Dem Party. I guess if you want to blissfully believe this had nothing to do with the lack of scrutiny on his business, feel free. The irony is he might still get punished. Here's why: https://t.co/EvWcTbUTVG

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 11, 2022