The failure of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried will leave deep scars
It is harder now to assert that crypto represents the future
Nobody in crypto has slept in days. That, at least, is what it feels like in the never-ending Twitter “spaces” which have been running since ftx, a Bahamas-based crypto exchange and crown jewel in the empire of Sam Bankman-Fried, its once-feted founder, filed for bankruptcy on November 11th. The scattered crypto-community often comes together in these online forums—they are where people shill tokens, organise pump and dumps, and occasionally even discuss exciting innovations. In the days after the fall of ftx and Mr Bankman-Fried’s other firms, including ftx.us, an America-based exchange, and Alameda Research, a trading firm, they became places for traders to mourn, former employees to spill the beans and other exchange operators, including Changpeng Zhao of Binance and Jesse Powell of Kraken, to try to reassure customers.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Hold on for dear life”
From the November 19th 2022 edition
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