Last Updated on 12/13/2022 by てんしょく飯
Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, founder of FTX Trading, a major crypto asset (virtual currency) exchange that went out of business, was arrested by Bahamian authorities on December 12.
He amassed billions of dollars in personal wealth through his management of FTX.
The sudden fall of the darling touted as the savior of the virtual currency industry has sent shockwaves through investors and virtual currency enthusiasts alike.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced that Mr. Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities at the request of the U.S. government. The Bahamian Attorney General issued a statement that the U.S. will likely seek his extradition.
Several U.S. federal agencies are also investigating the handling of customer funds by FTX when Mr. Bankman-Fried was CEO.
He amassed billions of dollars in personal wealth running FTX, one of the world’s largest virtual currency exchanges, which in January was valued at $32 billion.
Bankman-Fried said he played no role in FTX after he resigned as CEO on November 11 of the collapse. However, he told a Vox reporter that it was a mistake for FTX to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In interviews with Twitter and the media, he suggested that he could still raise his own money to repay customers. He did not provide specific plans.
FTX has appointed corporate restructuring expert John Ray to replace him.
<Wild haircut and T-shirt
Known in the financial community by his initials “SBF,” Mr. Bankman-Fried has become a celebrity for his wild haircut and unconventional style of T-shirts and shorts. He appeared at the debate alongside prominent politicians such as former U.S. President Clinton and former British Prime Minister Blair, as well as supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million to current President Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential race, making him one of the top high-dollar donors to Democratic candidates.
Marius Chubotalew, co-founder of the decentralized financial platform Hubble Protocol, said, “No one said there was anything wrong with SBF.
The collapse of FTX came as a surprise to the market, as Mr. Bankman-Fried was seen as a shrewd businessman and a good negotiator.
He grew up in California, and his parents are Joseph Bankman and Barbara Freed, both Stanford law professors. His first job was at Jane Street Capital, which he said he chose because he wanted to earn money to pursue his interest in “effective altruism.” Effective altruism is a philosophy that encourages people to prioritize charitable giving.
＜From Billionaire to Bankruptcy
Bankman-Fried, who made his fortune by exploiting the price differential between the virtual currency bitcoin in Asia and the U.S. and was worth $26.5 billion a year ago by Forbes estimates, founded the virtual currency trading firm Alameda Research in 2017 and started FTX a year later.
FTX, Bankman-Fried’s parents, and senior FTX executives have purchased at least 19 properties worth a total of about $121 million in the Bahamas, where FTX is registered, in the past two years, Reuters reports.
Since FTX filed for bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried has distanced himself from the self-image he has displayed in media interviews and before Congress, telling a Vox reporter that his insistence that a regulatory framework should be introduced for virtual currencies was “just a pejorative,” and that his remarks about industry ethics He admitted that it was, at least in part, an act.
Days before FTX collapsed, as traders rushed to withdraw their funds, Bankman-Fried told investors that he was confident FTX would be bailed out. A person familiar with the situation revealed this information.
With bitcoin prices plunging to a two-year low in the wake of FTX’s collapse and investors fearing the problem could spread to other virtual currency companies, FTX employees were also caught flat-footed and sent letters of apology to some customers to convey their shock, the source said. Bankman-Fried himself apologized several times to customers and employees.
In the past, Mr. Bankman-Fried has expressed in the past that he has not always been confident in the future of the FTX.
At a June meeting, he said, “There were times when I thought our company would go bankrupt because no one would use it.” A few weeks later, FTX and Alameda came to the rescue of the two distressed virtual currency platforms.
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