SBF
How The FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto's Very Bad Good Guy
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
A first-hand look at the extraordinary collapse of FTX, Alameda Research, and Sam Bankman-Fried
In SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy, accomplished crypto reporter Brady Dale presents an engrossing take on the spectacular and sudden implosion of FTX, Alameda Research, and their associated companies, as well as the criminal indictments of Sam Bankman-Fried and several of his associates. In the book, you’ll go beyond the salacious details and tawdry gossip to grasp the real lessons to be learned from one of the most dramatic corporate failures in living memory.
The author explores:
The often-confusing world of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, offering a deep understanding of both industries The history of Sam Bankman-Fried, what smart money players had to say about him in 2019 and 2020, and why many decentralized finance professionals considered him a “pirate” even before FTX and Alameda blew up What the aggressive lobbying campaigns waged by FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried reveal about the latter’s motives and goals
An extraordinary account of almost unimaginable wealth, greed, and hubris, SBF is a can’t-miss account of a fascinating corporate tragedy that continues to unfold to this very day.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Axios reporter Dale debuts with a serviceable account of how Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, turned the company into a "robber baron's war chest." Dale describes Bankman-Fried as a media-savvy businessman who played up his awkwardness to fit the profile of tech savant. Charting the rise and fall of FTX, Dale discusses the exchange's opening in 2019, the remarkable promises it made to investors (a 15% rate of return with "no risk"), and the ftt financial product Bankman-Fried invented "to make using the exchange more addictive" (Dale calls ftt tokens "the crypto version of a loyalty card at a coffee shop"). Bankman-Fried's downfall started in fall 2022 during an industry-wide run on crypto deposits that exposed billions missing from FTX's accounts, bankrupting the company and resulting in Bankman-Fried's arrest for misappropriating client funds. Dale does his best to clarify the underhanded financial maneuverings that could put Bankman-Fried behind bars, but the author sometimes throws up his hands, suggesting, for instance, that "it doesn't really matter" how bitcoin works. His investigation is also hampered by the fact that the story is still unfolding, with trial not set until the fall, leading Dale to admit "there's a lot I still don't know." This overview of FTX's collapse will satisfy the curious until a more definitive account arrives.