New revelations about the FTX crypto platform and its founder Samuel Bankman-Fried
The head of the FTX platform, who resigned at the same time as his company went bankrupt, gave an interview to the reporter. New York Times. New information not published in the newspaper is also disclosed.
For those wondering if Samuel Bankman-Fried (SBF) is the author of the latest strange tweets based on “What” and the letters of the alphabet, the answer is yes. The founder of FTX, who turned from a hero into an anti-cryptocurrency hero in a few days, gave an interview to “The Guardian”. New York Times.
It should be noted that the company he founded in 2019 went bankrupt on Friday. Today, FTX is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, America’s financial police) and the Department of Justice to investigate whether there is a conflict of interest between FTX and its trading company, Alameda Research.
Two days after his company went bankrupt, SBF gave an interview in which he seemed surprisingly calm.
“You might think I’m not going to sleep now, but I’m sleeping a little,” said SBF. “Could be worse,” adds the latter.
The connection between FTX and the Alameda Study, the origin of the SBF’s fall
“The connections between Alameda and FTX are the cause of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s downfall,” he notes. New York Times. With trading skills, SBF founded trading company Alameda Research in 2017. A company betting on buying bitcoins in the US to sell them at a higher price in Japan made $20 million in a short amount of time. Later in 2019, with its expertise in cryptocurrencies, SBF FTX decided to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform.
However, although the two institutions should be distinguished from each other, New York Times It reveals close ties between the two structures, including a past romantic relationship between SBF and Alameda Research boss Caroline Ellison.
“Alameda traded extensively on the FTX platform, which meant that it sometimes benefited from the losses of other FTX clients, a dynamic that critics called a conflict of interest. In the past, Mr. Bankman-Fried defended the ‘regulation.’ Alameda provided important liquidity – to other clients on the exchange capital injections that enable trading (including the FTX trading platform, editor’s note)”, we can read.
It seems that everything changed a few months ago when the SBF paradoxically established itself as an institution the “savior” of the crypto ecosystem. Indeed, the followingterra luna blockchain collapse, the latter has come to the aid of certain embattled companies, from Digital Voyager to BlockFi. It was during this period that the latter dared to declare that certain companies were “secretly bankrupt”.
Loans up to $10 billion
In the spring of last year, struggling Alameda Research reportedly used funds from FTX clients to make payments. The trading platform has loaned up to $10 billion to Alameda. “Alameda has built a large ‘margin position’ in FTX, which basically means it’s borrowing from the cryptocurrency exchange,” Sam Bankman-Fried said.
“It was much more important than I thought,” the latter said, referring to the several billion dollars lent, without giving an exact amount.
While the Fed called for swift regulation of cryptocurrencies after the FTX collapse, the SBF explained that “regulators, officials have worked constructively to manage (the company’s) liquidation and to try to do what is best for the company and consumers.”
SBF, represented by attorneys for Paul Weiss while represented by FTX law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, is refusing the prospect of a prison sentence.
“People can say anything they want about me on the internet.
“In the end, what matters to me is what I do and what I can do.” The latter, based in the Bahamas, declined to reveal his current location for security reasons.
