Sam Bankman-Fried Net Worth: How FTX Boss Went from $16 Billion to Zero in Just 1 Week

Sam Bankman-Fried net worth was still in the billions Monday morning, although his crypto empire was beginning to fall apart.

According to CNN, FTX crashed Friday, wiping out his fortune.

It was estimated that Sam Bankman-Fried value was roughly $16 billion at the beginning of the week. But after FTX bankruptcy, his asset's value went down to zero, making it "one of history's greatest-ever destructions of wealth."

Friday, FTX said it had filed for bankruptcy, and Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, stepped down as CEO.

This spring, Sam Bankman-Fried's net worth, mostly made up of digital assets, reached a high of about $26 billion.

As crypto prices fell over the summer, Bankman-Fried became the industry's "white knight."

He used his FTX exchange and its sister hedge fund, Alameda, to get crypto companies like BlockFi and Voyager lines of credit when they were close to failing.

In July, he said that he and FTX still had a "few billion" on hand to help other companies and keep the industry stable.

The Rise of Sam Bankman-Fried Net Worth and FTX

Before starting FTX in 2019, Bankman-Fried began Alameda in 2017 and made a lot of money from arbitrage trading strategies.

His profile started to rise in 2020, when he was called a "crypto savior" for helping SushiSwap after its founder decentralized exchange (DEX) left the community high and dry.

Up until the beginning of 2021, FTX grew slowly. Still, its popularity and trading volume increased when the company started to work with sports teams and celebrities to appeal to the mainstream.

In just a few months, FTX had signed deals to sponsor the Miami Heat's arena for $135 million over 19 years and the esports team Team SoloMid for $210 million over ten years.

Athletes like Steph Curry, Tom Brady, and Naomi Osaka joined, appearing in FTX commercials and promoting crypto to an ever-growing audience.

Decrypt noted that this year's FTX Super Bowl commercial, which starred comedian Larry David, added to that push.

Along the way, investors gave the company a lot of money: a $1 billion Series B in July 2021, $421 million in October 2021, and $400 million more in January of this year.

That does not include money raised for FTX U.S., a different exchange serving the U.S. At the time of its most recent rise, in January, FTX was worth $32 billion.

FTX Bankruptcy

A report says that the estimate was made after a liquidity crisis at the crypto exchange FTX, which Bankman-Fried co-founded and in which he still has a 70% stake.

On top of Bankman-personal Fried's wealth taking a huge hit, the U.S. part of FTX is now only worth $1, down from an all-time high of $8 billion in January.

FTX and Alameda Research, which Bankman Fried started, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, per Citizens Journal.

Bankman-Fried is allegedly being looked into by both the Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as he was reportedly loaned about $10 billion of his clients' money from FTX to Alameda Research, which is still owed.

A press release from FTX on Friday said that the once-billionaire has resigned as CEO of FTX and that John J. Ray III will take over.

According to reports, Ray, a lawyer by trade, was in charge of Enron when it went bankrupt in the early 2000s.

Ray said in the press release, "I want to ensure every employee, customer, creditor, contract party, stockholder, investor, governmental authority and other stakeholder that we are going to conduct this effort with diligence, thoroughness and transparency."

He added that "stakeholders should know that things have moved quickly and that the new team has only just been put together."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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