The Japan Times - Sam Bankman-Fried, 29, heads crypto exchange worth billions

EUR -
AED 4.02547
AFN 78.958383
ALL 99.102869
AMD 431.181955
ANG 1.961978
AOA 1003.890567
ARS 1184.765046
AUD 1.813586
AWG 1.97271
AZN 1.867466
BAM 1.955265
BBD 2.22659
BDT 133.983319
BGN 1.955265
BHD 0.412787
BIF 3277.602688
BMD 1.09595
BND 1.474296
BOB 7.619914
BRL 6.405394
BSD 1.102698
BTN 94.079244
BWP 15.358795
BYN 3.608812
BYR 21480.619234
BZD 2.215094
CAD 1.559263
CDF 3148.664634
CHF 0.944431
CLF 0.02729
CLP 1047.223301
CNY 7.980215
CNH 7.994999
COP 4582.945323
CRC 557.847278
CUC 1.09595
CUP 29.042674
CVE 110.234821
CZK 25.256829
DJF 196.376238
DKK 7.461451
DOP 69.640934
DZD 146.03502
EGP 55.406831
ERN 16.439249
ETB 145.347308
FJD 2.537019
FKP 0.847795
GBP 0.850992
GEL 3.01429
GGP 0.847795
GHS 16.970527
GIP 0.847795
GMD 78.997119
GNF 9480.074229
GTQ 8.45127
GYD 228.536272
HKD 8.520633
HNL 28.038338
HRK 7.531044
HTG 143.530764
HUF 404.54591
IDR 18346.949665
ILS 4.100568
IMP 0.847795
INR 93.650132
IQD 1430.891791
IRR 46360.405806
ISK 144.204462
JEP 0.847795
JMD 172.42419
JOD 0.777072
JPY 161.061946
KES 141.527433
KGS 95.002298
KHR 4365.330633
KMF 489.529208
KPW 986.361205
KRW 1599.015607
KWD 0.337157
KYD 0.910826
KZT 556.162432
LAK 23685.841231
LBP 98372.711411
LKR 324.07413
LRD 218.985421
LSL 20.902803
LTL 3.236056
LVL 0.66293
LYD 5.289988
MAD 10.429326
MDL 19.551233
MGA 5069.578931
MKD 61.05679
MMK 2300.919896
MNT 3846.361639
MOP 8.775473
MRU 43.593447
MUR 49.000806
MVR 16.923331
MWK 1897.317993
MXN 22.386696
MYR 4.861215
MZN 70.003894
NAD 20.902803
NGN 1681.066767
NIO 40.290501
NOK 11.790932
NPR 149.910449
NZD 1.95777
OMR 0.421946
PAB 1.09595
PEN 4.037053
PGK 4.46999
PHP 62.764717
PKR 306.904853
PLN 4.245513
PYG 8757.469729
QAR 3.989667
RON 4.952931
RSD 116.586887
RUB 93.840941
RWF 1555.449869
SAR 4.110221
SBD 9.312612
SCR 15.97682
SDG 658.021292
SEK 10.947921
SGD 1.470849
SHP 0.861245
SLE 24.933268
SLL 22981.523891
SOS 624.324825
SRD 40.248477
STD 22683.951476
SVC 9.589967
SYP 14249.994157
SZL 20.902803
THB 37.792726
TJS 11.899889
TMT 3.833642
TND 3.357047
TOP 2.638671
TRY 41.641737
TTD 7.422798
TWD 36.332658
TZS 2923.758392
UAH 45.158896
UGX 4009.400205
USD 1.09595
UYU 46.167964
UZS 14171.813622
VES 77.086835
VND 28252.54745
VUV 134.896075
WST 3.078778
XAF 652.705611
XAG 0.037037
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.966325
XDR 0.817067
XOF 652.705611
XPF 119.331742
YER 269.409315
ZAR 20.929909
ZMK 9864.868719
ZMW 30.636217
ZWL 352.89544
  • RIO

    -3.7600

    54.67

    -6.88%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.68

    -0.56%

  • CMSC

    0.0300

    22.29

    +0.13%

  • NGG

    -3.4600

    65.93

    -5.25%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    22.83

    +0.7%

  • BCC

    0.8100

    95.44

    +0.85%

  • GSK

    -2.4800

    36.53

    -6.79%

  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • BTI

    -2.0600

    39.86

    -5.17%

  • JRI

    -0.8600

    11.96

    -7.19%

  • AZN

    -5.4600

    68.46

    -7.98%

  • VOD

    -0.8700

    8.5

    -10.24%

  • RELX

    -3.2800

    48.16

    -6.81%

  • RYCEF

    -1.5500

    8.25

    -18.79%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    22.71

    +0.22%

  • BP

    -2.9600

    28.38

    -10.43%

Sam Bankman-Fried, 29, heads crypto exchange worth billions
Sam Bankman-Fried, 29, heads crypto exchange worth billions

Sam Bankman-Fried, 29, heads crypto exchange worth billions

Sam Bankman-Fried donned a suit and tie this week, abandoning his preferred hoodie and dark T-shirt for a hearing before US Senators.

Text size:

The lawmakers had summoned the 29-year-old multi-billionaire on Wednesday to discuss the regulation of digital assets in his capacity as co-founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX.

Less than three years after its founding, the company was just valued at $32 billion, a capitalization that puts it close to giants Coinbase and Binance.

The personal fortune of Bankman-Fried, a vegan who sleeps four hours per night and who has become a public face of crypto money, is estimated at nearly $25 billion by Forbes magazine -- placing him among the top 70 richest people on the planet.

"It's been pretty bipartisan," the young boss told AFP of the hearing. "A lot of Senators are really interested in learning more about the space and learning how there can be more federal oversight."

- From Hong Kong to the Bahamas -

Son of Stanford Law School professors and a graduate of the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Bankman-Fried worked as a broker on Wall Street before turning to cryptocurrencies in 2017.

He observed large variations in price between the online platforms where people can buy and sell crypto money and took advantage of the gaps by buying and selling digital assets at very high frequency.

The difference in prices in 2018 was 5-25 percent between American and Japanese exchanges, he said, which meant that simply by moving assets from one platform to another he could make money.

"There was enormous demand for crypto coming out of Japan, and not nearly as many liquidity providers," he added.

The young entrepreneur created a cryptocurrency investment fund, Alameda Research, moved to Hong Kong and then launched FTX with Gary Wang, who is now the platform's chief technology officer.

Bankman-Fried now lives in the Bahamas, where taxes are almost nil, and the platform has its headquarters in the Caribbean nation too.

He defends his choice of location by the fact that it is "one of the few countries that has a comprehensive licensing regime for cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges."

In media appearances and on Twitter, where he goes by SBF, Bankman-Fried has been a vocal advocate for smoother access to the crypto market for the general public, particularly in the United States.

"It would be healthy for everyone involved if there was a regulatory pathway to getting licensed and bringing federal oversight," he said.

A subsidiary for American clients, FTX US, opened in 2020.

The success of FTX has enabled the platform to forge prestigious partnerships, including with the newly retired American football legend Tom Brady and his wife, the Brazilian ex-model Gisele Bundchen.

The company will also run an ad during the American football finale Super Bowl on Sunday, promising to give away a number of bitcoins that will be determined by what time the commercial airs.

- 'Effective altruism' -

Bankman-Fried, who said he maintains a spartan lifestyle, identifies with the beliefs of "effective altruism," a movement which aims to use careful analysis to figure out how to use one's resources to help others the most.

"It's not just like, how do you do some good with your life, but if you want to do as much good as possible what do you focus on," said Bankman-Fried, who has pledged to give away almost all of the wealth he will have made.

He estimates that he has already donated between $50-100 million to causes such as the fight for animal welfare, combatting neglected tropical diseases and reducing global warming.

Cryptocurrencies have faced withering criticism over the argument they contribute to Earth's catastrophic warming because their extraction process requires so much electricity, which can come from fossil fuels.

Bankman-Fried said he believes the process of creating the cryptocurrency as well as the transactions will increasingly be done using renewable energy.

Aware of the staggering sums of money he's raising, Bankman-Fried, who was among the largest donors to US President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign, has no problem with the amounts being made public.

"If you're trying to have a lot of positive impact in the world, it's probably going to be things that people end up seeing," he added.

K.Hashimoto--JT