FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly known as SBF, is facing criminal and civil charges from three U.S. agencies. He was hailed as the JP Morgan of cryto, the savior of crypto industry. Bankman-fried founded the quantitative trading firm Alameda Research in 2017, two years later, he started FTX and exchange platform for buying and selling crypto currencies. FTX attracted major investments from sillicon valley and wall street and grew into the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange for derivatives trading.
FTX Trading Ltd., formerly one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, filed for bankruptcy in November this year. FTX was launched in 2019 and has been widely praised for its beginner-friendly interface and its low trading fees, making it expand quickly across the globe. The highest market capitalization of FTX was about US$32 billion. Many well-known investment companies and sovereign wealth funds have invested in FTX, including Temasek Holdings, SoftBank, BlackRock, Thoma Bravo, and so on. FTX's founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly known as SBF, graduated from MIT in 2014. After leaving his first job in Jane Street, he founded the cryptocurrency trading firm "Alameda Research" in 2017, and FTX in 2019. As FTX's value rose rapidly, SBF became one of the wealthiest people in crypto, also listed on the Forbes 400 in 2021, the year he was only 29.
Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's Founder and Ex-CEO: “I did not know that there is any improper use of customer funds.”
The crypto empire created by SBF, collapsed just within a few days. On Nov. 2, the crypto news website CoinDesk reported a balance sheet on another SBF's trading firm, Alameda Research, which was heavily dependent on FTX's native token FTT. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced it would liquidate all of its holdings of FTT, and Binance was planning a deal to acquire FTX to help its financial problems, while SBF tweeted that "FTX was fine." However, after Binance reviewed FTX's accounts, they decided against pursuing it. On Nov. 11, FTX started voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., shaking the cryptocurrency market. SBF apologized on Twitter and resigned as FTX's CEO. The FTX crash affected more than one million users, causing serious losses. Taiwan was also ranked as the top 10 countries that were affected by the crisis. Unfortunately, the cryptocurrency market is outside the scope of the central government's financial supervision, so it is difficult to seek compensation through the government. According to the victim's self-help association, it is estimated that the total loss of Taiwan users is at least NT$500 million.
Damian Williams, Attorney, US Manhattan: “We unsealed an eight count indictment charging Samuel Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder with a series of interrelated fraud schemes that contributed to FTX's collapse. ”
SBF was arrested by the Bahamas police on Dec. 12, and the U.S. prosecutors accused him of fraud and violating campaign finance laws, which carries a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. Two of Bankman-Fried's closest former associates, Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX had pleaded guilty to defrauding investors, and had decided to cooperate with the government. SBF was extradited to the United States for trial on the 21st, and on the next day, he was released on a $250 million bond while he awaits trial for eight federal criminal charges.
原是世界加密貨幣交易平台龍頭的FTX，今年11月無預警宣布破產，全球上百萬名投資人血本無歸。FTX於2019年成立，因介面簡單好操作、成交手續費低，非常適合虛擬貨幣新手投資客，廣受好評。FTX的公司市值最高曾達320億美元，短短幾年就在加密貨幣產業備受矚目，許多知名投資企業、頗具盛名的主權基金都在FTX投入資金，包括新加坡主權財富基金淡馬錫、日本軟銀集團、美國貝萊德投信等。FTX的創辦人兼原執行長--山姆·班克曼-弗里德，2014年畢業於麻省理工學院，而後進入簡街資本工作。在實際學習了市場操作相關技能後，2017年他創立量化交易公司 Alameda Research，2019年又創辦數位資產衍生品交易平台FTX，靠著套利交易迅速累積財富。2021年，年僅29歲的他名列富比士美國400大富豪榜之中，也被評選為30歲以下最富有的人之一。
FTX創辦人兼前CEO山姆·班克曼-弗里德：「我不曉得公司有不妥當地挪用客戶資金。」
11月2日，加密貨幣新聞網站CoinDesk獨家發布一篇報導，指出弗里德另一家交易公司Alameda Research資產負債問題，引發各界疑慮。6日，世界第一大加密貨幣平台「幣安」創辦人趙長鵬，公開表示將拋售所持有的所有FTX貨幣，他也在推特上指出，幣安有意收購FTX，幫助其資金問題。此時的弗里德，仍在推特上發文表示「FTX一切都很好」。然而到10號，幣安審核過FTX的帳目，決定不收購。同一天，Alameda Research也宣布停止交易。11月11日，加密貨幣市場風雲變色，FTX在美國申請破產保護，震撼幣圈，弗里德也在推特上道歉，同時從執行長之位辭職。這場風暴瞬間影響超過一百萬名FTX用戶，數百億美金一夕蒸發，造成嚴重損失。台灣亦被評為全球前十大受災區，但因虛擬貨幣市場不在中央政府金融監管範圍之內，難以透過公部門協助求償。有受害民眾自發性創立受害者群組，建立損失統計表單，從問卷回覆情況推估，台灣用戶總虧損至少約5億新台幣。
美國紐約南區聯邦檢察官達米安·威廉姆斯：「我們公布了對FTX創辦人山姆·班克曼-弗里德八項罪名的起訴書，他的一連串詐欺犯罪行為導致了FTX的倒閉。」
12月12日，巴哈馬警方逮捕了弗里德，美國檢方也對他提出8項刑事指控，包含電匯詐騙、洗錢、密謀詐騙等，最高可能被判處115年徒刑。弗里德的兩名核心合夥人，FTX共同創辦人兼技術長蓋瑞、Alameda Research 前執行長艾莉森皆已雙雙認罪，轉作汙點證人。21日，SBF被引渡回美，準備受審，在22日出庭後，以2.5億美元獲准保釋。