Larry David predicted the FTX implosion

Larry David made a prediction about this week’s cryptocurrency crash that was pretty good. In a Super Bowl announcement for cryptocurrency exchange FTX in February, Larry David sarcastically predicted that the platform would fail.

The ad showcases David’s character throughout history, criticizing humanity’s greatest inventions, including the wheel, the light bulb, the coffee and democracy. At the end of the announcement, David learns about FTX, “a safe and easy way to get into cryptocurrency”. A contemptuous David says, “Yeah, I don’t think so. And I’m never wrong about these things – ever.” “Don’t be like Larry,” the FTX ad ends.

The ad resurfaced on social media this week after FTX imploded. David’s character was, it seems, right to be skeptical.

FTX filed for bankruptcy in the United States on Friday, marking an impressive drop for one of the biggest and most powerful players in the cryptocurrency industry. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange’s 30-year founder, resigned.

Rival Binance had said it would explore an FTX bailout earlier this week, but almost immediately backtracked after the company said FTX was essentially beyond the economy.

The full extent of FTX’s financial woes is not yet known, but multiple reports say the company is facing an $8 billion shortfall. Without a quick capital injection, Bankman-Fried reportedly told investors on Thursday that the company was facing bankruptcy.

Despite its reputation as a reliable, low-risk investment portal, FTX’s trades appear to have been built on a complex and extremely risky type of leveraged trading.

Customers deposited their money to engage in cryptocurrency trading. But it appears that FTX took billions of dollars of that money and loaned it to its sister company, Alameda, to fund these high-stakes bets, according to The Wall Street Journal.

CEO Sam Bankman-Fried resigned on Friday. He was one of the faces of the cryptocurrency industry, amassing a fortune totaling $25 billion, which has since disappeared. He was seen as the white knight of the crypto world, stepping in to rescue struggling companies earlier this year.

FTX, backed by elite investors like BlackRock and Sequoia Capital, has quickly become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Regulators are now scrambling to investigate what went wrong, and some lawmakers are demanding a crackdown.