SBF Wants to Launch New Venture to Repay FTX Investors
Sam Bankman-Fried still thinks he can turn things around.
In the FTX founder’s latest interview, given this weekend to the BBC, the one-time billionaire said he hopes to launch a new business to pay back the crypto exchange’s investors.
Bankman-Fried has spoken several times of being able to reserve the company's fortunes, even as it slipped into bankruptcy and investigators began taking a closer look at its operations.
“I’m going to be thinking about how we can help the world and if users haven’t gotten much back, I’m going to be thinking about what I can do for them,” Bankman-Fried told the BBC. “And I think at the very least I have a duty to FTX users to do right by them as best as I can.”
This weekend also saw Bankman-Fried — or SBF, as he’s called on Twitter — come out in support of an idea floated by Ran Neuner, founder on Onchain Capital:
“Fire up the FTX exchange. Issue a new FTT token. Distribute the token to creditors/depositors.
Accrue 100% of profits to token holders. It will be the biggest exchange in the world and users will be made more than whole.”
Bankman-Fried replied: “I continue to think that this would be a productive path for parties to explore! I *hope* that the teams in place will do so.”
Court filings from the company’s bankruptcy proceedings show more than 1 million creditors for FTX, including many customers based in the U.S. The insolvent exchange reportedly has between $10 billion and $50 billion in liabilities.
Speaking to the BBC from his residence in the Bahamas — where FTX is based — Bankman-Fried said he is also worried about his own finances. He told the news outlet he has no access to his bank accounts and “less than $100K left.”
Asked if he is prepared for the possibility of criminal charges and jail time, Bankman-Fried said: “There’s some time at night ruminating, yes, but when I get up during the day, I try and focus, be as productive as I can and ignore things that are out of my control.”
Bankman-Fried has yet to be charged with any crimes related to FTX’s downfall, but reports emerged this weekend that federal prosecutors were reviewing how the company moved money as it headed into bankruptcy for a possible fraud case against SBF.
On Tuesday (Dec. 13), the FTX founder will testify before the House Financial Services Committee as it begins to examine the exchange’s implosion.
Once one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, FTX fell apart in a matter of days in November after reports emerged that the platform had commingled funds with its affiliated trading company, the hedge fund Alameda Research.
A former senior FTX employee told the BBC he thinks Bankman-Fried must have been aware that Alameda Research was using FTX customer funds and accused him of lying in recent interviews when he said he did not know about the flows funds between the companies.
“No that’s not true,” Bankman-Fried said in response to that allegation.
He went on to acknowledge that as CEO he was responsible for any mishandling of funds. “That's on me, one way or another,” he said.
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