“Everyone can understand zero.” That’s likely to be the epitaph of high-flying investor — and Democratic megadonor — Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto business, FTX.
FTX invested a lot of its customers’ money in the Bankman-Fried-founded company Alameda Research. As The Maine Wire explains: “Alameda was one of those operations where you’re told just to trust that really, really smart computer geeks are taking a small amount of money and making it into a big amount of money using computer wizardry you can’t understand. But everyone can understand zero — which is the amount venture cap giant Sequoia Capital is expecting to get back on its mammoth investment in FTX.”
Until its collapse this week, FTX was one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges — and trading platforms — in existence. Not long ago it was worth $32 billion, and Bankman-Fried himself was worth $26 billion. Now it’s more or less worthless, and Bankman-Fried is no longer a billionaire. He might even wind up worth zero or less than that by the time things are settled. Binance, which was the world’s No. 1 platform, mounted an abortive rescue bid but withdrew once it got a look at the books.
As word spread, FTX customers tried to pull their money out, and in what was basically a cryptocurrency version of a bank run, soon FTX was unable to meet the demand for withdrawals. Regulators in the Bahamas, where the company operated, shut it down and launched a criminal investigation. United States regulators are sniffing around too.
Lots of other people are out a lot of money: The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Canada’s third-largest fund, has lost $95 million, and that’s just one example. FTX’s collapse is yet another story of crypto shock, following dramatic drops in valuation for various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, etc.
FTX another Biden Mafia Scam !!!!
Take the $$$$$$$$$$ away from Elections to Clean Up the Corruption !!
A poor man should have just as good a chance to WIN as a Rich man !!!! SOLVED
Stop buying elections > Stop the STEAL !!!!