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Until now, the world of cryptocurrency has existed mostly on the fringes of the economy; what happens in the cryptocurrency markets has little impact on the rest of the world. But one man is determined to change that.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of cryptocurrency firms FTX and Alameda Research, has made billions in just a few years and, in the process, has become a respectable figure in an industry often associated with less respectable characters.
He is one of the few crypto geeks to break into pop culture. He and FTX are everywhere: he’s on the covers of magazines like Fortune and Forbes, in Super Bowl ads, and in ads for Vogue and The New Yorker; he’s also a comedian. Larry David and football stars Tom Brady To advertise the company, the stadium where the Miami Heat play was renamed FTX Arena. Bankman-Fried has built a reputation as a crypto veteran. When many crypto companies got into trouble, he publicly announced that he would help them out.
It wasn’t until last week that it was revealed that much of Bankman-Fried’s empire was built on FTT — a token created out of thin air that FTX was selling. The news shocked investors and customers; they wanted out. His company’s value plummeted, and no one was there to help him.
Bankman-Fried Fortis and Alameda Research — filed for bankruptcy on November 11.
We chronicled his rise to the top of the crypto market with effective branding and a seemingly solid reputation, as well as his recent fall, and what it all means for the rest of the crypto world.
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