For years, Sam Bankman-Fried (known as SBF), founder of FTX crypto exchange, was praised as a virtuous crypto entrepreneur. He was known as a philanthropist who wanted to give away half of his money and as an advocate for using science to find the best ways to help others.1 But over the past week, SBF’s reputation has been almost completely destroyed. FTX has filed for bankruptcy, and billions of dollars worth of crypto withdrawals have been frozen within it. SBF himself is now under criminal investigation in the Bahamas, and FOX News has reported that authorities may extradite him to the U.S.2 Prior to the week of November 6-12, SBF was also the richest crypto investor in the world, having attained a net worth of over $20.9 billion. But in just one week, his wealth plummeted by $16 billion. If you’ve just heard about this newest crypto scandal, you may wonder what in the world is going on. Who is Sam Bankman-Fried? And what did he do to draw the ire of so many people? In this Playlist, I’ll go over all of the essentials you need to know to understand the FTX crisis and the man behind it. Let’s start with a Diagram of Sam-Bankman Fried.
