In less than four years, Sam Bankman-Fried rose from founding crypto exchange FTX to becoming the industry’s tousled de facto spokesman in Washington. In less than a week, crypto’s politician whisperer has witnessed the collapse of his empire and the evaporation of his influence on Capitol Hill.
Bankman-Fried’s FTX — and sister trading firm Alameda Research — were until this week considered a rare oasis of stability in an otherwise teetering crypto market. In a summer of market turmoil the chief colloquially known as “SBF” built stature by coming to the aid of flailing crypto companies such as lending platform BlockFi.
But this week a liquidity crisis enveloped Bankman-Fried’s own companies, leading the chief executive of arch-rival Binance to announce his exchange was set to acquire FTX.com. The deal — which was subject to due diligence — disintegrated a day later. Bankman-Fried desperately searched for a saviour as regulatory probes swirled around his businesses.