Sam Bankman‑Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is the former CEO of FTX, once the world's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, who was convicted of fraud in November 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. His rise and collapse became the defining cautionary tale of the crypto industry. Bankman-Fried graduated from MIT with a physics degree in 2014 and worked briefly at Jane Street Capital before founding Alameda Research, a quantitative crypto trading firm, in 2017. In 2019, he launched FTX, a derivatives exchange that attracted users with innovative products, low fees, and aggressive marketing including a $135M naming-rights deal for the Miami Heat arena and Super Bowl ads featuring celebrities. At its peak in early 2022, FTX was valued at $32 billion. Bankman-Fried cultivated an image as the industry's responsible face — meeting with regulators in Washington, advocating for licensing frameworks, and publicly championing "effective altruism," the philosophical movement focused on maximizing charitable impact. He donated tens of millions to political campaigns and nonprofits. The facade collapsed in November 2022 when a CoinDesk report revealed that Alameda Research's balance sheet was heavily dependent on FTT, FTX's own token. A bank run followed, FTX could not meet withdrawals, and the company filed for bankruptcy within days. Investigations revealed that FTX had secretly transferred at least $8 billion in customer deposits to Alameda to cover trading losses. Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, extradited to the United States, tried, and convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. His case became the most prominent white-collar criminal prosecution in crypto history.