Sam Bankman-Fried threw around millions as he sought aggressive pro-crypto regulatory changes — now his firm is bust.
By Andrew Perez, Rebecca Burns & 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
New Poll: Democratic Socialism Is Now Mainstream
September 17, 2025
Take Action Now A national poll from Jacobin, DSA Fund, and Data for Progress finds broad support for democratic socialist leaders and left-wing…
Gerrymandering & The War On Democracy
September 17, 2025
Take Action Now It’s one piece of a much larger democratic breakdown.By RJ Eskow, The Zero Hour Report A few days before the Charlie Kirk…
What Happened To Silverio Villegas González
September 17, 2025
Take Action Now Immigration agents shot and killed an unarmed 38-year-old father outside Chicago on Friday—and their initial narrative of events was…
Talk World Radio: Sam Rosenthal On The Occupation Of DC And What’s The Matter With Democrats
September 16, 2025
Take Action Now War, peace, and politics with RootsAction’s Political Director Sam RosenthalBy David Swanson and Sam Rosenthal, Talk World Radio…