In Pics | From FTX collapse to Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest; all you need to know
Hailed as next Warren Buffett, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas following the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange, whose dramatic collapse sent its more than a million investors and their billions of dollars down a sinkhole. Here's a timeline of events
Hailed as next Warren Buffett, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas following the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange, whose dramatic collapse sent its more than a million investors and their billions of dollars down a sinkhole. (Image: News18 Creative)
2/12
A prominent and unconventional figure known for his wild hair, t-shirts and shorts, Bankman-Fried had vowed to one day give his entire fortune away. (Image: News18 Creative)
3/12
His rise began in 2017 when he founded crypto trading firm Alameda Research. He launched FTX in 2019 and grew it into one of the leading exchanges for buying and selling crypto derivatives. (Image: News18 Creative)
4/12
Bankman-Fried was the sixth largest individual donor to Joe Biden for the 2022 midterm cycle. He contributed $40 million to various Democratic candidates. (Image: News18 Creative)
In November 2022, reports emerged that the balance sheet of Alameda was loaded with billions of dollars worth of FTT (the exchange’s crypto token), implying that Alameda and FTX were vulnerable to a decline in the token’s value. (Image: News18 Creative)
6/12
After brief discussions, Binance rejected an offer to take over the FTX exchange. FTX sister firm Alameda Research’s website goes offline and halts trading. (Image: News18 Creative)
7/12
On November 11, a WSJ report revealed that FTX lent billions of dollars worth of customer assets to fund risky bets by Alameda Research, setting the stage for the exchange’s implosion. (Image: News18 Creative)
8/12
“I’m piecing together all of the details, but I was shocked to see things unravel the way they did earlier this week,” Bankman-Fried tweeted on November 11. (Image: News18 Creative)
On November 13, FTX filed for bankruptcy. (Image: News18 Creative)
10/12
CNBC reported that the bankruptcy filing showed FTX has more than 1,00,000 creditors, assets in the range of $10 billion to $50 billion as well as liabilities of between $10bn and $50bn. (Image: News18 Creative)
11/12
As FTX collapsed, the value of his assets was reduced to zero in what Bloomberg called “one of history’s greatest-ever destructions of wealth”. (Image: News18 Creative)
12/12
According to news reports, the bankruptcy process underway with FTX and its associated companies will continue in parallel as the legal case against Bankman-Fried progresses. (Image: News18 Creative)
