SBF Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison.

Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison, capping a swift fall from grace after being found guilty of fraud and money laundering charges. Federal prosecutors had been aiming for a much higher sentence, arguing that the nature of his crimes meant that he should spend most of the rest of his life behind bars. According to a report by the New York Times, SBF will also have to forfeit $11.4 billion in assets and will most likely be sent to a low or medium-security prison near his parent’s home in San Francisco. According to a report by the AP, SBF will not serve his sentence in a maximum security prison due to his autism, and his public persona would make him a target in prison. Despite the collapse of FTX and the downfall of SBF, I still believe that the Cryptocurrency industry has a long way to go to establish any form of trust that people’s investments can be handled securely.

Bankman-Fried’s Fraud Trial Gets Underway.

The trial of disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried started today in New York City. SBF is accused of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. According to a report by CNN, prosecutors claim that SBF stole billions of dollars in customer deposits at FTX to cover enormous losses at Alameda Research, a crypto-driven hedge fund run by his then-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who pleaded guilty to similar offenses in December of last year. Before its infamous collapse, FTX had developed a well-known reputation by featuring celebrity endorsers such as Tom Brady in Super Bowl commercials. According to an article in Politico, SBF’s trial could have significant ramifications on future legislation regarding the regulation of the industry. Michael Lewis will be smiling somewhere as his book on SBF comes out today; nothing beats a bit of free publicity.

EA: Effective Altruism or Effective Greed.

In the 2000s, a concept called Effective Altruism was created by Scottish philosopher William MacAskill. MacAskill’s idea was to encourage bright young college students to get into the financial world, make money, and then give it to charity. According to an article in The Washington Post, an ever-growing network of charities and think tanks have developed over the last two decades to expand the EA movement. EA charities have focused on issues such as Pandemic Presentation and Nuclear non-proliferation. According to an article in The New York Times, EA went from being an obscure theory to a booming industry.

EA came under the spotlight recently due to Sam Bankman-Fried, the now-former CEO of FTX, the Cryptocurrency exchange. Bankman-Fried set up a foundation called the FTX Future Fund that was devoted to Effective Altruism causes. The Future Fund had given away $140 million to other foundations furthering the goals of the EA movement. However, the future of donations has been called into question because Bankman-Fried lost his fortune overnight due to FTX’s collapse. All of this raises questions about Effective Altruism’s future and whether the movement is genuinely trying to improve the world or just lip service spouted by crypto bros.

The Rise and Fall of FTX.

Recently, FTX, one of the world’s largest Cryptocurrency exchanges, was declared bankrupt. According to Fortune magazine, FTX had cryptocurrency assets valued between $10 Billion and $50 Billion. The company’s CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, had a net worth of around $16 billion before bankruptcy. According to a New York Times article published recently, a rival in the crypto industry suggested that FTX’s finances were not as strong as previously thought. Consequently, organizations and individuals hastily moved their assets off the platform.

Recently, there was hope that Binance, another exchange, would buy FTX and essentially bail them out. However, at the last moment, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, decided to back out of the deal because of regulatory concerns and due diligence issues. As a result, FTX had no option but to file for bankruptcy. This collapse has ramifications far beyond investors losing their assets. FTX, in recent years, has forged lucrative sponsorships with sports leagues such as the NBA, MLB, and F1. As a result of the bankruptcy, these partnerships will have to be dissolved. This is an evolving story, but it is clear that the collapse of FTX will have consequences far beyond the complex and murky world of Cryptocurrency.