Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried is a leading Democrat donor
Disgraced crypto financier and founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was a massive donor to the Democrats and their causes during the most recent midterm election before his crypto empire collapsed into a smoldering ruin.
Bankman-Fried, whose business is headquartered in the Bahamas, was the second largest individual donor to the Democrats just behind financial speculator and activist George Soros. Celebrity investment advisor Jim Cramer called him the “next JP Morgan.”
Bankman-Fried, who goes by “SBF,” was heavily promoted by the woke press as being a crusader for ESG (environmental, social, governance) activism, driving a Toyota Corolla despite being worth billions of dollars. Bankman-Fried, a proud vegan, touted himself as an environmentally and socially conscious activist who spent billions of dollars on progressive causes.
FTX launched during the crypto gold rush in 2019 and accrued celebrity endorsements, including celebrity football player Tom Brady, who actively promoted FTX and its phone app. By 2022, it acquired over a million users.
Last week, users demanded withdrawals amounting to $6 billion following the publication of an article in CoinDesk, which revealed that Bankman-Fried’s FTX and his other company, Alameda Research, had a massive overlap on their balance sheets in the form of the company’s own cryptocurrency token FTT.
The publication of the article was prompted by an announcement by rival exchange Binance, which had been planning to buy FTX, which revealed that the amount of FTT tokens FTX and Alameda Research had in their possession gave them cause for concern.
Binance announced it would discharge all holdings of FTT and backed out of the acquisition, and users who had billions of dollars in FTX pulled out what they had from the exchange. Without any liquid to remain afloat, FTX declared bankruptcy.
“As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com,” Binance said in a statement. “In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.”
Since then, numerous revelations have come out about Bankman-Fried. FT reported that while he was courting investors, SBF played video games.
Bankman-Fried went from having a $15.6 billion net worth to “no material wealth” in the span of just a couple of days, and now federal investigators are investigating whether he broke laws with his actions at FTX and Alameda Research.
Fox News details how he provided at least $38 million to leftist, progressive causes including PACs and political candidates.
Politico reports that Bankman-Fried was a resource to whom Democrats went when lawmakers sought to regulate cryptocurrencies due to his “willingness to write multimillion-dollar checks to boost Democrats.”
Bankman-Fried even bragged about how he was preparing to spend anywhere between $100 million to $1 billion supporting the Democrats in the 2024 presidential election.
“This is an absolutely stunning turnaround from somebody who was the darling of Washington policy circles,” said Blockchain Association Executive Director Kristin Smith. “It was built on a house of cards.”
Bankman-Fried, who is currently detained by authorities in the Bahamas, resigned on Friday with a brief apology for his actions.
“I’m sorry. That’s the biggest thing. I f*cked up, and should have done better. I sincerely apologize,” he said.
Ian Miles Cheong
Contributor
Ian Miles Cheong is a freelance writer, graphic designer, journalist and videographer. He’s kind of a big deal on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/stillgray