FTX CEO Breaks Silence: I F*cked Up, I’m Sorry, FTX US Users Are Fine

Summary:

  • Sam Bankman-Fried posted a 15-tweet thread apologizing to users and investors alike.
  • The former crypto billionaire also claimed that FTX U.S. users are fine despite turbulence linked to the Bahamas-based parent exchange.
  • Raising liquidity remains the priority, SBF tweeted amid financial uncertainty and bleeding market prices.
  • Reports from Reuters and Wall Street Journal estimated a hole larger than $6 billion on the crypto exchange’s balance sheet.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted apologies to FTX users and an update to the crypto community as the crypto exchange sinks deeper into a liquidity crunch and withdrawals remain paused. 

1) I’m sorry. That’s the biggest thing.

I fucked up, and should have done better.

Withdrawal pressure mounted on the Bahamas-based exchange after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced plans to unwind around $2.1 billion of FTT from its books. 

SBF’s exchange experienced liquidity constraints and outflows increased drastically despite Sam’s best efforts to downplay insolvency scares. Part of Thursday’s thread claimed that FTX U.S. Users pointed out that Sam tweeted similar claims before things tanked. 

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The thread also claimed that FTX international holds assets with a total market value greater than funds and tokens deposited by users. Again, this drew scrutiny since multiple sources reported the crypto exchange had a balance sheet hole bigger than $6 billion. 

Binance also dropped plans to bail out Sam’s exchange after reviewing the books and assessing the liquidity crunch.

[DB] SBF Told an Investor This Week That Alameda Owes FTX About $10 Billion: WSJ Source

FTX Lent Billions of Dollars Worth of Customer Assets to Fund Risky Bets by Alameda Research: WSJ Source

Bankman-Fried Needs Billions To Save FTX

SBF noted that raising funding and liquidity tops the to-do list while withdrawals on the crypto trading venue remain paused. Before turning to CZ, SBF called tried to raise between $1-$5 billion from Silicon Valley billionaires per reports. 

Tron founder Justin Sun said progress towards a solution was underway but the billionaire has shared little regarding the matter since. 

At press time, all eyes are seemingly on SBF, his crypto exchange, and its sister trading firm Alameda Research. Amid a sleuth of investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as the Justice Department, Tether started freezing FTX USDT in compliance with law enforcement probes. 

[DB] Tether Begins Freezing FTX USDT at the Request of Law Enforcement While Investigations Occur: Tether Exec

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