What was the valuation of FTX in July 2021?
FTX reached a valuation of $18 billion in July 2021. The company boasted over one million users and positioned itself as the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
FTX reached a valuation of $18 billion in July 2021. The company boasted over one million users and positioned itself as the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
Anonymous sources revealed that FTX lent $10 billion of its customers' assets to Alameda Research in 2022. This arrangement allowed Alameda to trade with customer funds while maintaining a secret exemption from auto-liquidation protocols.
The collapse of FTX began on the 2nd of November 2022 when CoinDesk reported that a significant portion of Alameda Research's assets were held in FTT. The situation escalated when Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced on the 6th of November 2022 that his firm intended to sell all its holdings of FTT.
On the 13th of December 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried was charged by the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York with fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violate campaign finance laws. He was released on a $250 million bond and ordered to remain under house arrest at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California.
In August 2024, FTX was ordered by a U.S. court to pay $12.7 billion in compensation to former customers and fraud victims. The sum consisted of $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement.