FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was once touted as the cryptocurrency king, a reputation that has eroded with the exchange’s collapse resulting in his arrest over fraud charges. Before the collapse, Bankman-Fried had exuded confidence about the trading platform’s future, sharing the plans to expand FTX and his legacy.
Indeed, in an interview (min 23:40) with CNBC on September 16 (FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022), Bankman-Fried noted that he does not care about his legacy in the crypto space, maintaining his primary focus was on creating impact.
“I dont give a [expletive] about legacy. I care about the impact that I have but like it’s not like the thing I try to remind myself of. At the end of the day what matters is the impact I have,” he said.
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At the same time, he shared his long-term vision about FTX’s future despite the trading platform battling the extended crypto winter.
According to SBF, the long-term plan was to establish FTX as a global platform that allows people to access liquidity in what he termed as ‘a sophisticated powerful way’. Interestingly, FTX troubles began when the exchange was hit with a liquidity crunch resulting in users being unable to withdraw their funds.
Furthermore, Bankman-Fried noted that the exchange intended to become licensed in more jurisdictions. At some point, he alleged that FTX was the most regulated platform globally.
“One piece of this is being a global platform where people can access liquidity in a sophisticated, powerful way. One piece of this is being fully licensed, and you know we think we are already by far the most licensed crypto venue and maybe the most licensed exchange overall, depending on how you count globally. We are licensed in dozens of jurisdictions separately,” said Bankman-Fried.
Calls for regulations
In this line, industry players have lamented that the FTX scandal could not have occurred in the first place with proper regulations. At the same time, the collapse has resulted in more calls to regulate the industry even as United States lawmakers continue unveiling new crypto regulation bills.
Additionally, Bankman-Fried stated that the goal of FTX was to build a customer-friendly platform that can help people manage their finances easily and more straightforwardly.
Notably, Bankman-Fried is facing allegations of misappropriation of customer funds after FTX reportedly mixed funds with SBF’s other firm Alameda Research. It is worth mentioning that SBF was arrested a day before testifying before Congress, where he was meant to speak about the incident that resulted in FTX collapse.
Amid the crypto bear market, Bankman-Fried emerged as a key personality in the space, attempting to save businesses facing bankruptcy.
‘SBF is a manipulator’
In this line, United States House of Representative member Patrick McHenry stated that SBF committed an old-school fraud leveraging new technology. With Bankman-Fried being a key donor for different causes, the lawmaker noted that the FTX founder was a manipulator, something he alleged was visible in his recent media tour interviews.
“It shows that he was a manipulator of world-class capacity and trying to pull off something,” McHenry said.
At the moment, SBF remains behind bars after being charged with committing fraud against customers by misappropriating their funds to pay for expenses and debts. Based on the charges, Ira Lee Sorkin, the lawyer who represented the perpetrator of the largest individual Ponzi Scheme, Bernie Madoff, warned that SBF faces many years in jail.
Watch the moment SBF talked about his legacy and the future of FTX from minute 23:40 below:
Featured image via CNBC YouTube
