As day dawns on a stricken crypto market amid industrial disaster caused by the inability of the exchange FTX to curb a crisis that began less than 48 hours ago, the CEO of the platform Sam Bankman Fried comes out of the silence.
Sam is enough
It seems like a long time ago when everything seemed to smile on the young Sam Bankman Fried, darling of crypto, apparently capable of turning everything he touched into (digital) gold.
It only took a few days for the FTX empire to crack everywhere, under the amazed gaze of thousands of incredulous investors. A cataclysmic situation confirming once again that the industry born of Bitcoin more than a decade ago certainly remains the scene of the most insolent successes, but is just as quickly transformed into a cemetery of ambitions shattered in the snap of a finger, or a market reversal.
Even the announcement last night of the potential takeover by Binance did nothing: FTX, and its in-house token the FTT continued their slide into hell, with the asset currently trading at $5, down 72% over the past 24 hours.
Now all eyes are on the fund Alameda, pouring investment from the already ex-empire Bankman Fried. Alameda, a key entity for many crypto players in the industry, well beyond the borders of the FTX exchange alone (Alameda Research is a stakeholder in dozens of major companies in the sector).
It is now time to clean up on social networks in order to erase the various bravado of recent times and other reassuring messages which now appear out of step with reality. In parallel, Sam Bankman Fried has finally come out of the silence in a letter circulating on social networks.
Sam Bankman Fried’s Apology
Reported in particular by The Block, it is by email that Sam Bankman Fried seems to have chosen to communicate, fleeing social networks for a time.
“I’m sorry I’ve been difficult to contact over the past few days, I wish I could have been more communicative during this process, but unfortunately I couldn’t. Things fell into place dynamically. We have entered into a non-binding agreement with Binance to purchase FTX. What does this mean exactly?
It’s a good question, and unfortunately I don’t have a perfect answer for you, as the details are still being worked out. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.
Our first priority is to protect customers and the industry; it has guided what we do. We are hopeful of accomplishing all of this, which means that we will soon be focusing on our second priority: our shareholders.
Again, I wish I had more details for you right now; I do not know yet. I will give them as I go. But protecting our shareholders is our top priority aside from non-negotiable priorities.
I’m likely to be quite overwhelmed the next few days, so unfortunately I probably won’t have much time for a while, but Ramnik [chef de produit de FTX ndlr] and others will be there and (a little) less confused. Anyway: I will come back to the events later, when I have time. I’m sorry that I didn’t do better and I will do what I can to protect clients’ assets and your investment. »
According to their own convictions but also their investment positions, everyone will judge the sincerity of this mea culpa, as the crypto market as a whole continues to suffer this morning. Beyond the act of personal contrition, eyes are now on the rest of the industry, the LUNA case law having painfully demonstrated that the fall of the first domino was sometimes only a foretaste of real disasters.
Platforms and companies are born, live and die, but Bitcoin remains. Take advantage of these troubled times to stock up! Register quickly on the Binance platformwhich remains solid in the storm (commercial link).