Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX to give a ‘one-time’ $6M compensation to phishing victims
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX will provide around $6 million in compensation to victims of a phishing scam that allowed hackers to conduct unauthorized trades on certain FTX users’ accounts. FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried posted in a Twitter thread on Oct. 23 that the exchange generally doesn’t award compensation to its users “phished by fake versions of other companies in the space” but in this case, it would compensate users. Bankman-Fried said that this was a “one-time thing” and FTX would “not do this going forward.” “THIS IS NOT A PRECEDENT,” he wrote, clarifying it was only the accounts of FTX users that would be reimbursed. 14) But this once, we’ll do it; roughly $6m total. (To be clear, only for FTX accounts! Hopefully other exchanges will comp theirs.) BUT AGAIN N...
Sam Bankman-Fried sheds light on how FTX would approach a Celsius bid
FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have shared details on how his firm would approach a buy-up of Celsius’ tassets. The comments come in light of FTX US snapping up bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital’s assets for $1.3 billion via auction last week and a recent report that FTX was considering a bid for Celsius’ assets as well. Responding to a tweet from BnkToTheFuture founder Simon Dixon alleging FTX was “raising finance at a $32Billion valuation” in order to buy Celsius’ assets at “cents on the dollar,” Bankman-Fried clarified that his firm’s bid is determined at “fair market price, no discounts.” You up for discussing a plan to make up the difference with equity? I have some ideas that will make the community very happy with the ...
FTX reportedly considers bailing out Celsius via asset bid
Crypto exchange FTX, led by crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), is reportedly considering bailing out Celsius Network by bidding on the bankrupt lender’s assets. Coincidently, the information came out the same day Alex Mashinsky resigned as the CEO of Celsius. “I regret that my continued role as CEO has become an increasing distraction, and I am very sorry about the difficult financial circumstances members of our community are facing,” said Mashinsky while explaining his decision. For FTX, acquiring the assets of Celsius would imply the exchange’s intent to save the lending firm, similar to what FTX US did for Voyager by securing the winning bid of approximately $1.4 billion. Bloomberg reported on FTX’s interest in Celsius Network based on insights from a person familiar wit...
Brett Harrison will step down as FTX US president, move into advisory role
The president of cryptocurrency exchange FTX US, Brett Harrison, has announced he will be transitioning into an advisory role in the next few months. In a Sept. 27 announcement on Twitter, Harrison said he will be resigning his position as FTX US president but will remain with the exchange “with the goal of removing technological barriers to full participation in and maturation of global crypto markets, both centralized and decentralized.” Harrison has worked as FTX US president since May 2021, following a job at Citadel Securities. “I can’t wait to share more about what I’m doing next,” said Harrison. “Until then, I’ll be assisting Sam [Bankman-Fried] and the team with this transition to ensure FTX ends the year with all its characteristic momentum.” 1/ An announcement: I’m stepping down ...
Sam Bankman-Fried denies report FTX plans to purchase stake in Huobi
Global crypto exchange FTX will not be acquiring a majority stake in Huobi, according to CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF. In a Monday tweet, SBF explicitly denied a Bloomberg report that claimed FTX was planning to purchase crypto exchange Huobi. Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 12 that Huobi co-founder Leon Li was considering selling his majority stake, valued at more than $1 billion, in the company. “We are not planning to acquire Huobi,” said SBF. Just to be explicit because apparently a lot of people are saying this: No, we are not planning to acquire Huobi. — SBF (@SBF_FTX) August 29, 2022 Under SBF’s leadership, both FTX and Alameda Research have stepped in a few times amid the bear market to bail out crypto firms facing liquidity issues. In a June NPR interview, Bankman-Fried...
Alameda Research co-CEO Sam Trabucco resigns, Caroline Ellison will become sole head
Alameda Research co-CEO Sam Trabucco announced his resignation Wednesday on Twitter. Trabucco said co-CEO Caroline Ellison will become the sole CEO, and he will remain in the capacity of adviser. Alameda Research is the quantitative trading company set up by FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried in 2017. In a long thread prefaced with a tweet simply reading “On happiness:,” Hong Kong-based Trabucco said his appointment as co-CEO of Alameda Research last year “was to bring titles in line with reality,” and his resignation had the same goal. Trabucco and Ellison succeeded Bankman-Fried as heads of the company. On happiness: — Sam Trabucco (@AlamedaTrabucco) August 24, 2022 Trabucco was appointed to the position in August 2021, after working as a trader at Alameda Research since 2019....
Binance vs. FTX: CZ calls out ‘bad players’ for crypto exchange jitters
The CEO of crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, raised concern for traders after learning about the infamous phenomenon of trade jitters on other crypto exchanges. Jitters in crypto trading relate to a trade event wherein an investor’s buy or sell order gets stuck and moves down in the list, allowing newer trade orders to go through. Just learned a new word, jitters. On 1 particular exchange, sometimes your orders will be stuck for a bit, and a few other orders will get in front of you. Apparently, this happens often enough on this exchange that the traders coined a term for it, jitters. (Front running) — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) August 19, 2022 While CZ’s concerns against jitters did not explicitly target any particular exchange, the crypto community on Twitter assumed it w...
Huobi co-founder reportedly looks to sell majority stake valued at over $1B
Leon Li, the co-founder of global crypto exchange Huobi, is reportedly in talks to sell the majority of his stake in the company, which could be valued at over $1 billion. Li reportedly had discussions with multiple financiers seeking to offload a 60% stake in the crypto company, which could be valued at over $1 billion and some believe could fetch as high as $3 billion, reported Bloomberg. A Huobi spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg, without disclosing details, that the co-founder is engaging with numerous international giants to sell his majority share in the crypto exchange. Li reportedly informed other backers of the company of his decisions during a shareholder meeting in July this year. Li has transferred his CEO duties to Hua Zhu to focus on his health. The report also claimed ...
FTX CEO: Blockchain can make social media interoperable
While the critics cast doubts on some of blockchain’s use cases during the crypto winter, one of the most prominent community figures laid out some points that cement blockchain’s position as a disruptive technology. On Twitter, FTX crypto exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried highlighted use cases for blockchain and explained how some industries could benefit from integrating the tech. According to Bankman-Fried, blockchain technology can simplify payments, solve stock market flaws and revolutionize social media. Bankman-Fried said that there are many issues surrounding cross-border payments. The FTX CEO laid out several examples that highlighted long waiting times and intermediaries that make the fees higher and often add uncertainty to transactions. According to the executive, blockchain...
Sam Bankman-Fried could spend up to $1B in 2024 to thwart Trump comeback
The billionaire founder and CEO of theFTX cryptocurrency exchange Sam Bankman-Fried has revealed he intends to spend anywhere between $100 million and $1 billion to help influence the 2024 United States presidential election campaigns. In a podcast interview on May 24 Bankman-Fried was asked how much money he might donate during the next presidential election cycle, answering he’d give “north of $100 million” with a “soft ceiling” of $1 billion if he were to bankroll the person running against former president Donald Trump. “I would hate to say hard ceiling because who knows what’s going to happen between now and then.” According to the government watchdog OpenSecrets, which tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying, a $1 billion donation would break existing records multiple times over...
Robinhood shares spike 30% after Sam Bankman-Fried buys $650M stake
Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX has acquired a substantial 7.6% stake in the popular online brokerage, Robinhood. The news was well received by the market, with Robinhood’s (HOOD) stock price initially soaring over 30% in after hours trading. At the time of writing the price has settled to a 24% overall gain. According to a securities filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Bankman-Fried purchased a total of $648 million in Robinhood shares at an average price of $11.52. The purchases disclosed by Bankman-Fried reportedly began in mid-March and continued through until Wednesday. In the securities filing, Bankman-Fried made it clear that he had, “no intention of taking any action toward changing or influenc...
Crypto Bahamas: Regulations enter critical stage as gov’t shows interest
The crypto community and Wall Street converged last week in Nassau, Bahamas, to discuss the future of digital assets during SALT’s Crypto Bahamas conference. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference (SALT) was also co-hosted this year by FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, kicked off Crypto Bahamas with a press conference explaining that the goal behind the event was to merge the traditional financial world with the crypto community: “Crypto Bahamas combines the crypto native FTX audience with the SkyBridge asset management firm audience. We are bringing these two worlds together to create a more equitable financial system.” Traditional finance eyes crypto as regulations take shape The combination of traditional ...
