Two days from crypto billionaire to 9-fold debtor CEO
On the evening of November 8th, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) announced a strategic deal with Binance. Minutes later, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) confirmed that the move was to “protect users.” At the time, FTX was the third largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world and SBF had $16 billion in assets. Bloomberg.
After the news that Binance bought FTX, the price of this token dropped from $22 to $2.4. The sale reduced FTT’s market cap by more than $2 billion. From No. 25 with $2.57 billion on the morning of November 8, the project fell to No. 55 with a market cap of over $700 million the next day. FTX requires a lot of cash to balance funding and provide liquidity to users.
9/11 WSJ Citing separate sources, SBF told investors that without funding, the company would go bankrupt. The FTX exchange faced a deficit of up to $8 billion. Born in 1992, the CEO looked for ways to raise funds in the form of debt, equity or a combination of both to maintain the floor.
Bankman-Fried’s admission of the company’s financial vulnerability reveals uncertainty about FTX’s future. This is considered an important turning point in the series of stock market crisis events. At the time, there were many rumors circulating in society about Binance’s exit from the deal.
Sam Bankman Fried, CEO of FTX. Colour: leg crypto
It should be the same day blooming flowers, FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried have caught the eye of the US authorities. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigate whether companies are properly using customer deposits. In addition, FTX is under investigation in relation to its dealings with companies associated with Sam Bankman-Freed.
On the morning of November 10, Binance released an official announcement: “We previously hoped to provide liquidity support to FTX clients, but these issues are beyond our control or ability to assist. Following a financial review and given the news and allegations from the SEC, we are unable to proceed with the acquisition of FTX.”
“Sad day. Tried but…” CZ later tweeted. CZ’s tweet this morning, complete with a tearful emoji, criticized the SBF’s recent attempt to save their “kingdom.”
In less than 48 hours, the nine-time CEO’s net worth fell 94% from $16 billion to less than $1 billion — the biggest drop in history. The FTT-FTX token price fell from $22 to $2.50 on the afternoon of November 10th.
Bankman-Fried and FTX executives fell into a financial black hole as the exchange’s debt was estimated at $6 billion. As soon as they received the news that the exchange was facing bankruptcy and an investigation was underway, Twitter users announced that they could not access FTX. Keywords related to FTX sites even made it to the top of Google Trends because users couldn’t access the platform.
consequences mint leaves, on the official FTX Telegraph Group, the admin confirmed that the withdrawal of funds from the exchange is pending and it is not known when it will reopen. A few hours later, the FTX website was up and running again, but with a red message: “FTX is currently unable to process withdrawals. We strongly advise you not to apply.”
Please note that FTX was unable to process withdrawals on the exchange homepage in November. Colour: Khyong Nha
The case of FTX can be compared to the case of Terra. Bankman-Freed’s future is also compared to that of Do Kwon, a CEO in the same year who is on the run from authorities. The exchange volatility leads to a price drop of the entire cryptocurrency market. On the afternoon of November 10, bitcoin price fell to $16.8 thousand, Solana fell 21% to $15.7. A number of other SBF related tokens such as TRX, BTT, JST and SUN crashed.
In the dark 48 hours of Bankman-Freed, one cannot help but mention CZ, who is credited with being directly involved in that sad ending. While SBF faces spiraling debt, CZ remains the richest person in the crypto world with a net worth of $16.4 billion.
Before 04/11 CoinDesk cites reports suggesting that FTX and SBF’s financial positions are deeply flawed. On November 7th, CZ announced that they will sell all FTT tokens to manage risk following lessons learned from Luna’s collapse. The move immediately sent shockwaves through the crypto markets and wreaked havoc on Sam Bankman-Fried for the next 48 hours.
Born in 1992, Sam Bankman-Fried is considered a miracle of the cryptocurrency market. His name is associated with iconic projects such as BlockFi, Voyager Digital and Celsius. In 2019 he founded FTX and actively promoted the creation of a proprietary cryptocurrency exchange. Last year, as the FTX peaked, Bankman-Fried announced its intention to acquire CME Group and Goldman Sachs.
Khyong Nha