Polyamory, penthouses and plenty of loans: inside the crazy world of FTX
by Alex Hern UK technology editor from Technology | The Guardian on (#660HD)
After the crypto firm collapsed, the executive who handled the Enron debacle was brought in - and said he'd never seen anything like it
I don't have this kind of money to lose' - investors' stories
Casual observers could be forgiven for thinking the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is another typical tale of financial mismanagement. That's how its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, terms it: a liquidity crisis that tipped over into a solvency one.
FTX had deposits and loans and when depositors tried to get their money back, FTX didn't have it to hand. Sure, the loans were in fancy digital money, rather than stale dollars, but at first glance, it appears like just another big company failure.
Continue reading...