Who Is Sam Bankman-Fried, the ‘Savior’ Who Crashed FTX?
CYBER
VICE
4 • 645 Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Have you heard about Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX? FTX was the second largest crypto currency exchange in the world and Bankman-Fried was the guy who ran it. He was a young genius, people said. He practiced something called “effective altruism,” gave away money to people on the street, played video games, and was predicted to be the world’s first trillionaire.
Now he’s bankrupt, FTX is in ruins and large amounts of crypto seem to keep shifting around with no explanation. So who was Bankman-Fried? Why did everyone think he was a genius? And how did FTX seemingly make billions of dollars in wealth evaporate overnight.
On this episode of Cyber, Motherboard staff writer Edward Ongweso Jr. tries to answers those questions.
Stories discussed in this episode:
Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Crypto Empire Is Officially Bankrupt
Sam Bankman-Fried Was Supposed to Be Different. He Wasn't.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | TAM! It's got the code. It's going to launch. |
| 0:10.0 | It's a unit system. I know this. |
| 0:15.0 | It's how all the files are the whole park. It tells you everything. |
| 0:19.0 | Sir, he's uploading the virus. |
| 0:22.2 | Eagle won. |
| 0:23.5 | The package is being delivered. |
| 0:26.4 | Hello out there on the internet. |
| 0:28.9 | I am Matthew Galt, and this is Cyber. |
| 0:30.9 | Look, I'm sorry. |
| 0:32.8 | We have to talk about crypto again. |
| 0:33.7 | Wait, don't leave. |
| 0:34.6 | I know. |
| 0:35.3 | I know. |
| 0:35.9 | Stick around. |
| 0:38.7 | The story is really funny and weird, I promise. |
| 0:45.2 | I heard about this guy, Sam Bankman Fried, and FtX. FtX was the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and Bankman Fried was the guy who ran it. He was a young genius, people |
| 0:50.9 | said. He practiced something called effective altruism. Gave way money to people |
| 0:55.0 | on the street. He was a league of legends addict and he was predicted to be the world's first |
| 0:59.7 | trillionaire. That's all up in smoke. He's bankrupt now. FTX is in ruins. Large amounts of |
| 1:06.2 | crypto seem to keep shifting around and no one is quite sure where Bankman Fried is. There were reports |
| 1:11.5 | that he was in Argentina. He has denied that. He told Reuters that he was in the Bahamas. |
| 1:16.2 | But who is this guy? Why did everyone think he was a genius? And how did FtX seemingly make |
... |
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