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FTX Fallout: Recap of News, Opinions, and Impact

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Last Friday, the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world filed for bankruptcy. Only a few months earlier FTX was valued at $32B, led by Sam Bankman-Fried one of the most recognizable figures in space. What happened? At its core, a huge sell-off of FTX’s native token FTT, and a failed rescue from Binance, led to the downfall and another crypto market shock. Below TSG has compiled key articles and opinions to keep you up-to-speed on the fallout.

Overview

  • Forbes | FTX Declares Bankruptcy
    • After facing a liquidity crunch, FTX, its sister firm Alameda Research and 130 affiliated companies under the banner of FTX Group filed for bankruptcy, according to a company statement posted on Twitter on Nov. 11.  The statement also announced that Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, would step down from his role
  • CNBC | Sam Bankman-Fried Collapsed FTX Amid ‘Complete Failure of Corporate Controls’
    • “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information,” said new FTX CEO John Ray, former CEO of Enron after the implosion of the energy titan.
  • TechCrunch | Binance’s CZ on FTX: ‘We were the last straw that broke the camel’s back’
    • “I still don’t think I have that much influence. I think we were the last straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s not a straw that is really strong,” he told TechCrunch’s Anita Ramaswamy. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff that built up to it. I just may have happened to be the last thing that pushed it.”
  • Business Insider | What happened to FTX, and how does it affect crypto traders?
    • Though traders withdrew billions from FTX, Binance later struck a deal to acquire the exchange. However, Binance announced on November 9 that it was backing out of the deal because of corporate due diligence and the “latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations.”

Fallout

Sam Bankman-Fried

  • The Guardian | Sam Bankman-Fried was hailed as a crypto wonder child. What happened?
    • When bitcoin and crypto-assets hit the headlines in 2021, Bankman-Fried positioned himself as a billionaire public intellectual. Bankman-Fried would only be photographed in shorts, a T-shirt or hoodie, and untied shoes. He marketed himself to venture capitalists as a genius eccentric, beyond their comprehension. How did this mere boy of 29 hit the heights so quickly? What was his secret?
  • CNBC | Emoji for expenses, penthouses and slipshod accounting: The most damning details from new FTX CEO’s report
    • FTX CEO John Ray III’s filing from Thursday morning reveals a culture of laxity and permissiveness at the imploded crypto dealer, where expenses were approved with color-coded emoji and company money bought employee homes
  • Vox | Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself
    • Bankman-Fried has maintained that FTX has never invested the deposits of crypto account holders on the exchange. I pressed him on that point via Twitter, and while he continued to insist that FTX did not directly use account money in this way, he said that Alameda — which he also owns — had borrowed far more money from FTX’s balance sheet for investments than he had realized, which ultimately left FTX vulnerable to the crypto equivalent of a bank run.
  • CNBC | FTX suggests Sam Bankman-Fried transferred assets to Bahamas government custody after bankruptcy
    • The accusations were made by FTX in a motion in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. In that motion, FTX said the alleged conduct puts “In serious question” a request by Bahamian regulators for recognition as liquidators in the bankruptcy.