Crypto Crackup: Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, and SBF's Weird Island Empire

by Ash Bennington, Artur Osiski, Elizabeth Bachmann

Overview

Sam Bankman-Fried—better known as SBF—was at the top of the world and lauded as a leading figure in cryptocurrency, an industry whose popularity has exploded over the past few years. He was being compared to the legendary financier J.P. Morgan and sometimes even rumored to have the potential to become the world's first trillionaire. He built a crypto empire with trading firm Alameda Research and crypto exchange FTX, which became one of the world's largest. He attracted leading investors and walked the corridors of power in Congress. Then, seemingly within days, everything collapsed. FTX went bankrupt, and SBF was arrested, extradited from the Bahamas to the United States, and charged with multiple counts of fraud and other criminal offenses. The world was gripped but left wondering: How did SBF burst onto the scene and take the crypto world by storm only to come crashing down? What makes his case so special? And what does effective altruism have to do with it?

Crypto Crackup explores his early days—his road from traditional finance to setting up Alameda and FTX, to the massive crash that swept both away and left SBF potentially facing decades in prison.

Crypto Crackup will help you better understand SBF's spectacular journey, even if you know little to nothing about crypto. If you want to understand more about SBF, how FTX's bankruptcy left a mess that's been described as "worse than Enron," and why so much of this played out on Twitter—this book is for you.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940185780749
Publisher:	Post Hill Press
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Ash Bennington is the Senior Host & Crypto Editor at Real Vision, where he covers finance, investing, and economics with a special focus on blockchain and digital assets. Before joining Real Vision, he was CoinDesk’s Cryptocurrency Markets Lead. Mr. Bennington is a former CNBC reporter and served as editor-in-chief of Nouriel Roubini's macroeconomics blog, Roubini EconoMonitor with Ash Bennington. His work has appeared in numerous business news publications over the past decade. Prior to becoming a journalist, he was a vice president of e-commerce at BB&T and was an assistant vice president and technical expert at Credit Suisse.

Artur Osinski, Polish by birth but British by naturalization, is a producer at Real Vision, responsible for preparing content that explores the world of crypto, including the live show Crypto Daily Briefing. Prior to joining Real Vision, he worked as a freelance journalist with a particular focus on international news, business, and the media for numerous outlets, including CNN International, Al Jazeera English, and BBC. Mr. Osinski‘s roles included newswriting and copyediting at CNN, producing long-form lead packages dissecting global media narratives for Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post, and the UK election coverage for BBC.

Elizabeth Bachmann is an editor at First Things, responsible for copyediting a monthly print magazine, assigning and editing book reviews, and producing the podcast Conversations with Mark Bauerlein. She has written for First Things and freelanced for Crux, the National Catholic Reporter, and Catholic News Service. She previously worked as a marketing assistant for Encounter Books.