Four years ago, Sam Bankman-Fried did not have a single cryptocurrency in his possession – basically, he did not even know what Bitcoin. But weeks ago, in September – five months before his 30th birthday – he made his debut in This year’s Forbes list of the 400 richest people on the planet.
The 29-year-old American figures in 32nd place, with a net fortune of height 22.5 billion dollars – something admirable for him if we consider that, with the exception of Mark Zuckerberg, no one else has managed to get rich at such a young age.
“The irony? He is not one of the “evangelists” of cryptocurrencies. He is not even considered “faithful”. “He is a mere ‘mercenary’ and his goal is to raise as much money as possible (without really caring how), just to donate it later.” mentions the extensive article-presentation recently reserved for him by Forbes.
“THE Steve Jobs was obsessed with elegant and simple to use products. THE Elon Musk claims that his mission is the salvation of humanity. But this 29-year-old, whose philosophy is “win to give”, turned to the fever of cryptocurrencies“, First as a simple stockbroker and trader and then as an exchange maker, simply because he knew he could get rich that way.”
The fact remains of course one and non-negotiable: o Bankman-Fried is currently the richest 29-year-old in the world thanks to the cryptocurrency exchange FTX which maintains and which allows traders to buy and sell digital assets such as bitcoin and ethereum.
FTX manages about 10% of the nominal value of 3.4 trillion. derivative dollars, mainly futures and options, traded by cryptocurrency investors each month. “FTX has been receiving an average of 0.02% of every transaction, a commission enough to show about $ 750 million, almost zero risk, revenue – and $ 350 million in profits – in the last 12 months,” the Forbes article notes. adding that “In July alone, the exchange “raised” $ 900 million from companies such as Coinbase Ventures and SoftBank, pushing its valuation to $ 18 billion.
At the same time, the trading company he has set up, the Alameda Research, showed profits of over one billion dollars for 2020.
Landed and in the mood to “make a difference”
However, he remains grounded and his mind does not breathe: “It really is a strange, transitional period for the industry”, says he, who now goes out more and more often in the television glass in order to give his lights for the bitcoin prices, adding at the same time: “There is a lot of uncertainty in half the countries of the world.”
How opportunistic he sees the future of bitcoins is also shown by the answer he gave recently when asked if he would “abandon cryptocurrencies if he thought he could make more money from another activity”: “Yes, for sure,” he said, but emphasized that “my goal is to make a difference.”
“But to achieve this, Bankman-Fried, which moved its headquarters to Hong Kong in 2018 and to the Bahamas in September, “It must emerge unscathed from ever-increasing government control and impose itself on its rivals who are eyeing to attract more than 220 million traders worldwide,” the statement said, adding that the 29-year-old had already earned the respect of his “peers”.
“It’s a phenomenon,” says the acquaintance big investor Kevin O’Leary, who recently invested in the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and is being paid as a representative. «“He has achieved a lot so far, and he has won the respect of many investors – I am one of them – but his work has just begun.”
From professor… trader
The son of two law professors at Stanford University, the 29-year-old grew up reading Harry Potter and listening to political debates between their parents and West Coast academics.
After graduating from a small private school San Francisco, was written at the famous MIT, where he barely got his degree in physics, as, as he admits today, he spent more time on video games.
At first, he thought of becoming a physics teacher, but was more interested in ethics and ethics. “A chicken is tortured for five weeks in a production unit, but it takes you half an hour to eat it. “I had a hard time justifying that,” said Bankman-Fried, a fanatical vegetarian.
Somehow, he gave up the idea of ​​becoming a professor and after graduating from MIT in 2014, he got a well-paid job at the algorithmic trading company Jane Street Capital.
Initially he paid attention to the cryptocurrency market when towards the end of 2017, noted that the still emerging cryptocurrency market was not effective: so notice that he could buy bitcoin in the US and sell it in Japan up to 30% higher!
That was the focal point for him. It stuck and has not come off since. “I was involved with cryptocurrencies, not knowing exactly what they are. “There was just a good prospect of transactions,” the 29-year-old sums up.
At the end of 2017, he quit his job and founded Alameda Research, an algorithmic stock trading company, with a capital of about $ 1 million from their savings and from friends and relatives. The rest is history…
As he now says, the biggest challenge for him is what the sequel will be. In particular, it must find a way to maintain the rapid growth of FTX without having to deal with government regulators.
“Cryptocurrencies have been completely banned or subject to draconian restrictions in countries such as China, Bolivia and Turkey. “In the United States, Congress has already introduced at least 18 laws this year that directly affect the industry.”
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried is looking for ways to use the $ 900 million raised by FTX, such as acquisitions that will either expand its user base or secure licenses to operate in other countries.
His goal is, as he emphasizes, to consolidate the reputation of just two years of his stockbroking company. It also wants to go beyond buying cryptocurrencies.
“There is a huge crowd out there. We should not believe that cryptocurrencies will forever be the most profitable ground“, Concludes meaningfully.
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