Sam Bankman-Fried's Fall from Grace

<p>The Magical, Mystical Gurus of Crypto/Bitcoin and All They Promise</p>

<p>First of all, I don’t like to say, “I told you so,” but, okay, maybe I do. Back in May, I wrote about the <a href="https://www.geeksultd.com/2022/05/8-confirmed-suicide-due-to-the-luna-crash-why-luna-crashed"><strong>8 confirmed suicides</strong></a><strong> </strong>tragically connected with the downfall of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/investing/luna-terra-stablecoin-explained"><strong>Luna and Terra</strong></a><strong>. </strong>Over the past year, I’ve been writing<strong> </strong>extensively on the topic of bitcoin and cryptocurrency, some of which I will reference here<strong>.</strong></p>

<h4>This week we witnessed the downfall of one of cryptocurrency’s shining stars, <strong>30-year-old FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).</strong></h4>

<p>Between $1 billion to $2 billion (so far) in client money has gone “missing” through a “back door,” and now as much as $10 billion in client money misappropriated.</p>

<p>On Thursday, SBF confessed: “I f**ked up,” in a <a href="https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1590709189370081280">lengthy </a><a href="https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1590709166515310593?s=20"><strong>Twitter thread</strong></a><strong>,</strong> apologizing to investors and customers of FTX, the exchange platform he founded in 2019.</p>

<p>According to <a href="http://binance%20was%20in%20talks%20to%20takeover%20ftx%20on%20on%20monday%2C%20but%20the%20deal%20fell%20apart%20less%20than%2024%20hours%20after%20binance%20began%20its%20due%20diligence.%20binance%20is%20one%20of%20the%20only%20cryptocurrency%20firms%20to%20release%20its%20reserves%20data%20since%20the%20downfall%20of%20ftx./"><strong>Markets Insider</strong></a> “<a href="https://www.binance.us/"><strong>Binance</strong></a> was in talks to takeover FTX, but the deal fell apart less than 24 hours after Binance began its due diligence.”</p>

<p>On Friday, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-news-today-11-09-2022/card/ftx-needs-8-billion-bankman-fried-tells-investors-2RSa5oqZyZZ5YrPLuZuL?mod=article_inline&amp;mod=article_inline"><strong>The Wall Street Journal</strong></a><strong> </strong>reported that FTX and its associated companies was facing an $8 billion shortfall. Overnight, SBF’s personal fortune was wiped out to the tune of $14.6 billion.</p>

<p>For this, SBF is “shocked”, he admits he should have given more “clarity” but his “hands were tied.”</p>

<p>You get the idea. There seems to be a few pleas for “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/"><strong>amnesty</strong></a>” going on these days, and not just about the pandemic.</p>

<p>To read the essay in full please go to <a href="https://khmezek.substack.com/p/sam-bankman-frieds-fall-from-grace">Sam Bankman-Fried's Fall from Grace (substack.com)</a></p>