Here’s how FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried became a multi-billionaire in three years
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is considered an icon of the crypto space. With his companies Alameda Research and FTX, SBF made a fortune since 2018. By his own account, he owns over US$10 billion, primarily in illiquid assets. In an interview with New York Magazine, the young entrepreneur explained how he managed to do this.
After Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF, as he is known in the crypto space) discovers huge arbitrage opportunities in 2018, the former Wall Street analyst dives into the crypto space. In doing so, he notices an opportunity to take advantage of Bitcoin’s massive price differentials. Especially on South Korea’s exchanges, the price discrepancies with foreign Bitcoin Compass trading venues are huge, sometimes as much as 30 per cent. However, since the local currency is difficult to convert into US dollars, Bankman-Fried decides to move to Japan, where there were also huge price differences on Bitcoin exchanges.
About trading these days
So SBF and some friends with whom he had started a trading firm in Berkeley called Alameda Research cobbled together a chain of middlemen, including obscure banks in rural Japan, to exploit the price discrepancy. About trading these days, he now tells New York Magazine in an interview:
You can do the math. It was the craziest trade I had ever seen.
Bankman-Fried earned up to 25 million US dollars a day with his young company Alameda Research. Today, his trading company Alameda Research makes 2 billion US dollars a day.
SBF is currently building up his second „baby“: the crypto exchange FTX. On it, users can buy cryptocurrencies as well as tokenised shares, such as those currently held by Corona vaccine manufacturers, at comparatively low fees. Recently, SBF was also able to enjoy its FTX token. This has seen a price gain of 105 per cent in the last 30 days. Together, Alameda and FTX have made Bankman-Fried one of the richest people in the crypto community. Personally, he asserts in the above interview, he has a fortune of around ten billion US dollars. Money that he donates, among other things.