The Fallen Crypto Guru

459

March 24, 2024

Published in Die Presse
(Austria) on 18 March 2024
by Beate Lammer (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Kirsty Low. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.

In August 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried's face was emblazoned on the cover of Fortune magazine, which celebrated the 32-year-old as the "next Warren Buffett."

The tech billionaire from California, known as "SBF," founded the FTX crypto exchange and gained attention with his charitable outreach and philanthropy. He was regarded as a good crypto entrepreneur, unlike his colleagues in the industry, who were accused of merely being out to make a quick buck. Today, the media sometimes refer to SBF as a "Bitcoin guru." But that's nonsense, as SBF didn't like Bitcoin. He told the Financial Times it had "no future as a payments network because of its inefficiency and high environmental costs." SBF showed minimal interest in the decentralized cryptocurrency. He preferred to create something of his own and believed he could do it all better than others.

In the end, he speculated away billions in customer funds. FTX went bust, and the whole crypto sector was dragged down with it. SBF has since been convicted of fraud and money laundering, and prosecutors are now seeking a 50-year prison sentence. Bitcoin is still around. Its price recently reached a record high.

Gefallener Krypto-Guru

Im August 2022 prangte das Gesicht von Sam Bankman-Fried auf der Titelseite des „Fortune“-Magazins, das den heute 32-Jährigen als den „nächsten Warren Buffett“ feierte.

Der unter dem saloppen Kürzel „SBF“ bekannte Tech-Milliardär aus Kalifornien hatte die Kryptobörse FTX gegründet und machte mit Wohltätigkeit und Philanthropie auf sich aufmerksam. Er galt als guter Krypto-Unternehmer im Gegensatz zu Branchenkollegen, denen man unterstellte, nur auf das schnelle Geld aus zu sein. Medien bezeichnen SBF heute mitunter als „Bitcoin-Guru“. Das ist aber Unsinn, SBF mochte Bitcoin nicht: Dieses hätte „keine Zukunft als Zahlungssystem wegen seiner Ineffizienz und seiner hohen Umweltkosten“, sagte er zur „Financial Times“. SBF konnte mit der dezentralen Kryptowährung wenig anfangen. Er wollte lieber selbst gestalten, dachte, alles besser zu können als andere.

Am Ende hatte er Milliarden an Kundengeldern verspekuliert. FTX ging krachend pleite, und der ganze Kryptosektor wurde mit nach unten gerissen. Inzwischen wurde SBF wegen Betrugs und Geldwäsche schuldig gesprochen, die Staatsanwaltschaft fordert nun 50 Jahre Haft. Bitcoin gibt es noch. Sein Preis hat kürzlich ein Rekordhoch erreicht.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Block title

Egypt: Trump Is Morally Corrupt

June 1, 2026. Published in almasryalyoum

History has never witnessed a leader quite like Donald Trump — a mix of ignorance, arrogance immorality, brazenness, insensitivity and sheer stupidity.

Israel: Trump’s Illusion: From Tehran 2026 to Munich 1938

June 3, 2026. Published in Israel Hayom

[I]t appears that the [U.S.] is capitulating in the talks.

Hong Kong: Kwei-Bo Huang: As US Ties with Allies Loosen, China Sees an Opportunity To Improve Relations

June 2, 2026. Published in China Review News

[T]he United States had itself rendered that alliance network more fragile.

India: Abraham Accords: Trump’s New Troublemaker in Iran Peace Talks

May 31, 2026. Published in Firstpost

[I]t is difficult to see how the Gulf nations would agree to sign the Abraham Accords and how the Accords could be a precondition to peace with Iran.

Egypt: America’s Problem of Strategic Focus

May 31, 2026. Published in Ahram Online

The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.

Topics

South Africa: Where’s My Phone? My Golden Trump Phone!

June 5, 2026. Published in Sunday Independent

So, to succeed in the trough of graft, a politician must have a profusion of scandals, so many of them all at once such that they would eventually overwhelm the system’s capacity to cope.