When news breaks, you need to understand what matters β and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today? In a matter of days, his empire exploded in a rather spectacular fashion.
Bankman-Fried launched Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm focused on digital assets, in , and then FTX, an exchange, in Things have since fallen apart very quickly.
Thanks to a leak about the shady accounting and financial health of Alameda Research and some savvy maneuvers from Binance, a competing exchange, investors began to pull their money out of FTX en masse. FTT, a token the company issues, plunged in value. FTX was forced to seek a bailout.
Bankman-Fried obliterated the savings of countless customers and might have committed fraud in the process. That project is now on pause. In the annals of crypto disasters, the tale of Bankman-Fried may become known as one of the most jaw-dropping.
Bankman-Fried faces a reputational fall from grace swifter than any in recent memory. Right now, we have far more questions than answers about what went down with FTX.
