If you are a cryptocurrency investor, this may have been the most harrowing week for you and your investment portfolio.
On everybody’s mind is the boy genius and once crypto savant that is now a disgraced former billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried is only 30-years-old and was the founder and former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange.
The cryptocurrency world was plunged into chaos last week with the fall of FTX. The exchange was once valued at nearly $32 billion.
It was reported that the company would file for bankruptcy, and Bankman-Fried would resign.
So who is Bankman-Fried?
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
THE FAMILY IS SMART
Bankman-Fried comes from a family of academics, as his mom and dad are both professors of law at the prestigious Stanford University.
A BRAIN FOR MATHS
Bankman-Fried is a gifted mathematical scholar, having attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics.
EARLY CAREER
Bankman-Fried began his trading career at Jane Street Capital. In November 2017, he founded a quantitative trading firm called Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried founded FTX in April 2019 while living in Hong Kong.
A FRIEND OF ELON
International reports looking at Bankman-Fried’s text messages showed that the former CEO had offered to assist Elon Musk to buy Twitter in September 2022.
A PHILANTHROPIST
It should be noted that Bankman-Fried is a huge supporter of effective altruism. This is a research field that tries to find the most effective ways to help others.
He is a member of Giving What We Can and noted that he would be donating a majority of his vast wealth to charities over his lifespan.
HOW RICH IS HE?
At the height of FTX’s successes, he was estimated to be worth $26 billion, though, like most things in crypto news, this amount has varied, according to Bloomberg.
In early October, the New York Times reported that he had a net worth of $10.5 billion. But by November 8, due to the FTX's solvency crisis, he had lost most of his fortune. It was estimated that dropped 94% in a day to $991.5 million, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bankman-Fried is now considered to have “no material wealth”, according to the index.
BUSINESS REPORT