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On Tuesday, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF)’s first long-form interview since FTX’s chapter was revealed to YouTube by citizen journalist Tiffany Fong.
On November sixteenth, the previous CEO supplied his perspective on a variety of claims made about him for the reason that chapter, and the state of FTX US shoppers. He additionally mirrored on FTT, the alternate’s native token which he maintained holds extra intrinsic worth than most different cryptos.
What Induced FTX and FTT to Collapse
Wong started by questioning SBF relating to prior claims that the CEO altered the FTX’s monetary information utilizing a “backdoor” that allowed to execute instructions with out alerting others. This declare was repeated a number of occasions by Reuters within the days after FTX’s insolvency, including that the backdoor was used to switch buyer funds to FTX’s sister buying and selling desk, Alameda Analysis.
“I actually wasn’t constructing some backdoor within the system,” answered SBF through the name. “I don’t know precisely what they’re referring to.”
Particularly, Reuters had claimed on November fifteenth that the backdoor was constructed by Gary Wang – FTX’s head of engineering. Solely Wang, SBF, and his innermost circle allegedly knew concerning the motion of funds.
Concerning FTT, SBF mentioned that he doesn’t consider the alternate’s token was nugatory. “I feel its worth is extra economically underpinned than the common token was,” he mentioned, due to FTT’s purchase + burn mechanism, payment reductions, and money circulate.
FTT started November at over $20 however now trades for simply $1.31 at writing time. Its value rapidly collapsed when Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao threatened to promote $500 million value of the token on the open market.
SBF denied claims that the token collapsed resulting from margin calls at Alameda and FTX (through which FTT was used as collateral), or as a result of asset’s illiquidity. As an alternative, he mentioned it was merely a lack of religion within the alternate that led to an enormous selloff that tanked its value.
“This was the response to information popping out particularly surrounding FTX and Alameda, and their solvency,” he concluded.
Fears round Alameda and FTX’s solvency started to flow into after CoinDesk leaked Alameda’s stability sheet on November 2nd. The sheet confirmed that Alameda was overexposed to FTT, holding half of the tokens in existence.
Regrets About FTX US Chapter
When FTX filed for chapter on November eleventh, it was joined by lots of of affiliated corporations, together with each Alameda Analysis and FTX US.
Bankman-Fried claimed solely a day prior that property at FTX US have been “not financially impacted” by the fallout, leaving many confused and indignant with him the next day.
The previous billionaire instructed Wong that he was actually coerced into writing the submitting for FTX US and that clients of the American department nonetheless have their property absolutely backed. As such, they will count on respectable recoveries from chapter – in contrast to the worldwide alternate.
“FTX US was so fucking solvent that it may completely [throw] 250 million {dollars} to a hat on the best way to chapter, [and] it’s nonetheless solvent,” he mentioned. “About 500 million over.”
FTX US stopped processing buyer withdrawals on-chain as of November eleventh.
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