An Indian-origin, ex Facebook employee was part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle that ran his crypto empire from a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas. Nishad Singh served as Director of Engineering at FTX, the now-struggling crypto exchange that has seen a remarkable reversal in fortune amid worsening solvency problems.
According to a Coindesk report, Singh was among the nine housemates of 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried. The group lived and worked together in the Bahamas, from where they ran FTX. Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and CTO Gary Wang were also part of this group.
Nishad Singh joined Alameda Research, FTX’s sister organisation which is at the centre of the controversy, in December 2017. According to his LinkedIn profile, he studied at Crystal Springs Uplands School in California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California Berkeley with a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2017.
Before joining Alameda Research, he was a software engineer at Facebook – an entry level position which allowed him to work on machine learning.
In an FTX podcast from 2020, Singh spoke about his decision to switch from his “dream job” at Facebook to Alameda Research after visiting Bankman-Fried at an apartment.
“It was in an apartment at the time, it was quite early. I think I first visited Alameda when it was like a month into its existence,” he said, adding that there were around five other people in the apartment and the scene was chaotic. “What was obvious that the things they wanted to do were really important and really fruitful.”
According to Singh’s LinkedIn profile, he took over as Director of Engineering at FTX in April 2019. His role in the collapse of the crypto exchange has come under scrutiny, with some alleging rampant nepotism and conflict of interest at FTX.
“The whole operation was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas,” a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk, requesting anonymity.
“Gary, Nishad and Sam control the code, the exchange's matching engine and funds,” the person added. “If they moved them around or input their own numbers, I'm not sure who would notice."
FTX was thrown into turmoil this month, with attention focused on the relationship between FTX and Alameda Research, a trading house also owned by Bankman-Fried that was taken down from the internet on Wednesday.
Specialist media site CoinDesk reported that 40 percent of Alameda's balance sheet comprised FTX's FTT tokens. That raised eyebrows among crypto experts.
"FTT is a token printed out of thin air and SBF ran both companies. Talk about a conflict of interest," noted data analyst Dan Ashmore at investment advisors Invezz.
FTX now needs to find about $8.0 billion to plug a massive hole in its finances and escape bankruptcy, reports say.
Rival firm Binance on Tuesday announced its intention of buying FTX, before pulling out of the deal on Wednesday.
(With inputs from AFP)
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