Sam Bankman-Fried threw around millions as he sought aggressive pro-crypto regulatory changes — now his firm is bust.
by Andrew Perez, Rebecca Burns, and Matthew Cunningham-Cook, The Lever
In April, when cryptocurrency guru and Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried described how crypto tokens work on a Bloomberg podcast, the host remarked that it sounded a lot like being “in the Ponzi business.” Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, replied that this was “a pretty reasonable response” with a “depressing amount of validity.”
The conversation — which occurred days after one of the industry’s top regulators in Washington tweeted a picture with Bankman-Fried — probably should have set off blaring alarm bells throughout Washington, D.C., and the financial industry. It didn’t.

On Friday, FTX, which previously had $16 billion in customer assets, and was valued at $32 billion in its most recent investor funding round in September, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. Bankman-Fried, 30, resigned as its CEO.
The collapse underscores how the $849-billion crypto industry — down by one fifth in the last week and from a high of $3 trillion a year ago — has been protected by regulators who are asleep at the wheel, while hapless ordinary investors, suckered in with slick ads from prominent celebrities and athletes, lose their savings.
Recent Posts
Gaza’s Looming Cancer Epidemic
September 4, 2025
Take Action Now The Many Ways Bombs Can KillBy Joshua Frank, Tom Dispatch A week after the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, a large explosion…
It’s Time For Chuck Schumer And Hakeem Jeffries To Step Down
September 4, 2025
Take Action Now We should be funding schools, health care, and education, not $50,000 signing bonuses for ICE agents.By Mehdi Hasan, The Guardian…
Let’s Fund Real Public Safety, Not ICE
September 3, 2025
Take Action Now We should be funding schools, health care, and education, not $50,000 signing bonuses for ICE agents.By Sonali Kolhatkar,…
The DNC’s Dark Money Hypocrisy Was On Full Display In Minneapolis
September 3, 2025
Take Action Now Party leaders decried secret political influence while lobbyists worked the room to kill a Gaza resolutionBy Nadia B. Ahmad…