Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange, which lent customer deposits to his trading firm Alameda Research, then ran out of money in November 2022.
Born
2019 CE
Died
2022 CE
Lived
3 years
Dead for
4 yrs
At its peak
$32 billion valuation (early 2022)
Cause of death
Overreach
The Obituary
FTX, launched in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried, grew within three years into one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, valued at $32 billion and fronted by celebrity endorsements and stadium naming rights. Behind the marketing, FTX secretly funneled billions of dollars of customer deposits to Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s affiliated trading firm. When a November 2022 report triggered a run on the exchange, the missing funds left an unfillable hole. FTX filed for bankruptcy on 11 November 2022. Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud in 2023 and sentenced to 25 years.
Worth remembering
At its early-2022 peak FTX was valued at $32 billion and bought naming rights to the Miami Heat's arena.
Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in 2023 and sentenced to 25 years.
Gallery
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried photographed at MDC Brooklyn after his arrestPublic domainThe FTX Arena in downtown Miami days after the exchange's November 2022 collapsePhillip Pessar · CC BY 2.0
Watch
The collapse of FTX: insiders tell all — CNBC documentary
Sources
FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, collapsed in November 2022 after a liquidity crisis revealed misuse of customer funds, and filed for bankruptcy Wikipedia
Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud in 2023 over the diversion of FTX customer funds to Alameda Research Wikipedia
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March 2024 to 25 years in prison for orchestrating the theft of billions of dollars from customers of the cryptocurrency exchange, which collapsed into bankruptcy in November 2022. U.S. Department of Justice
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
