Jay Gatsby, Albert Einstein, Frodo Baggins, John Pierpont Morgan, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Michael Milken, Bernard Madoff, Charles Ponzi — the list of people to whom Sam Bankman-Fried has been compared is an extraordinary one.
He seems destined to be remembered alongside those last three names, after being convicted of what prosecutors called “one of the largest financial frauds in American history”. The Californian, who has just turned 32, is set to be sentenced this month on charges that could see him spend decades behind bars.
But what is our verdict on crypto? Have we learnt the lessons from the disastrous 2022 crash in digital assets? To judge from recent action in the crypto market, the answer appears to be no.