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FTX Crypto Scam and the Bullsh*t of ‘Effective Altruism’
Inventing ideologies, ignoring reality, and duping everyone — The uber-rich go to extraordinary lengths to pretend they care
Over the past weeks, everyone has seen the epic downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried and the crypto exchange FTX. The supposed crypto-savior-mega-genius that once graced the cover of Forbes magazine, did glowing interviews with every finance outlet in the Western world, and held conferences earlier this freaking year with the likes of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair was found to be running what amounted to a Bernie Maddoff-Esque Ponzi scheme.
A lot has been made since about cryptocurrencies as the markets and other coins ride a roller coaster of instability. There have also been numerous post-bankruptcy profiles on Bankman-Fried himself, who often went by SBF. As always happens in these giant fraud cases, some investors, who didn’t buy in years ago, say they saw it coming while others say ‘all the signs’ were there but ignored.
The dude was literally called the next JP Morgan, was one of the biggest donors to Democrats, had celebrity-endorsed commercials, and a freaking stadium deal, all while running an elaborate fraud that exploded, losing him something like $15,000,000,000 in net worth in a single day…
