Catching Up to FTX E-Book

Ben Armstrong

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 334

Beschreibung

Discover the secret history of Alameda Research, FTX, and Sam Bankman-Fried In Catching Up To FTX: Lessons Learned In My Crusade Against Corruption, Fraud, and Bad Hair, celebrated YouTuber and podcaster Ben Armstrong delivers the extraordinary and compelling story of the rise and fall of FTX and its well-known founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Tracking the history of crypto exchanges from the original Mt. Gox to FTX and Binance, the author describes the history of fraud that has characterized much of the industry. Armstrong outlines the history of Alameda Research, FTX, and Sam Bankman-Fried, including a first-hand account of what he saw in the Bahamas when the indicted crypto titan was extradited from his home to face dozens of criminal and regulatory charges in the United States. He also discusses: * The weird and contradictory motives that drove Sam Bankman-Fried's brazen actions * A blow-by-blow account of the downfall of Alameda Research, FTX, and Sam Bankman-Fried * The red flags that many ignored -- and a few didn't -- that preceded the collapse of FTX The perfect book for anyone interested in crypto, finance, and corporate scandal, Catching Up To FTX will earn a spot on the bookshelves of everyone looking for an intense rollercoaster of a true story.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

CHAPTER 1: “Unhinged”: October 20, 2022

A Showdown in D.C.

CHAPTER 2: What's Beef?

Influencer Problems

The Betrayal

CHAPTER 3: House of Cards

Shifting Feelings on Economics

Out of Checks and Out of Balance

Clinging to Corruption

CHAPTER 4: Finance Needs an Upgrade

The Invisible Hand

Financial Crimes of My Lifetime

The Revolving Door

Ulterior Motives

Notes

CHAPTER 5: What's at Stake?

Money, Power, and Corruption

How Crypto Can Help

“Code Is Law” in DeFi

Centralized Finance in Crypto

Notes

CHAPTER 6: Rugs and Revolutions: A History of Crypto Exchanges

The Early Days

A New Generation of Crypto Exchanges

Crypto Prophets versus Crypto Profiteers

Notes

CHAPTER 7: SBF: The Man behind the Myth

Sam's Family

Effective Altruism (EA) and Political Philanthropy

Sam's Hypocrisy

Notes

CHAPTER 8: FTX: A Myth Born in a Bull Market

The Birth of FTX

The Bull Run

The Rise of FTX

Notes

CHAPTER 9: Bear Market 2022

Lunatics

The Suspects

Notes

CHAPTER 10: Contagion

Celsius

Three Arrows Capital

The New JP Morgan

Unsustainable Yields

Notes

CHAPTER 11: Scam Bankman Fried

SBF Exposed

God Mode

“Sam Coins”

Notes

CHAPTER 12: Whistleblowers

ICP

NuGenesis

Warning!

More Sources

Notes

CHAPTER 13: The Bankless Debates

SBF versus Erik Voorhees

Ben Armstrong versus Bankless

CHAPTER 14: A Rival Goes in for the Kill

Notes

CHAPTER 15: “1) What”: The Fall of FTX

Notes

CHAPTER 16: Hip‐Hop Politics

The Six‐Figure NFT

A Twist of Fate

A Change of Plans

Notes

CHAPTER 17: My Trip to the Bahamas

The Journey Begins

The Albany

CHAPTER 18: Side Quests

Keyboard Warrior

Calm before the Storm

CHAPTER 19: High Stakes

Local Politics

Drawing the Wild Card

One Last Stop

Homecoming

CHAPTER 20: Justice?

Another Change of Plans

Our Enemies Are Still Human

Lesson Learned?

CHAPTER 21: The Final Showdown

Aftermath

The Case

The Fallout

Notes

CHAPTER 22: Regulators, Mount Up!

The Unelected Sheriff

Binance Takes on the SEC

Operation Choke Point

Pulling up the Ladder

Ideal Vision for Crypto Regulation

The AI Age

Hope

Notes

Epilogue: Catching Up with the Bitsquad

Appendix: Timeline of Events

Glossary of Terms

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter 17

FIGURE 17.1 Ben poses for a selfie at the airport before he departs for the ...

FIGURE 17.2 Ben poses in front of the Hulk statue at the casino of the Baha ...

FIGURE 17.3 This photo shows Sam's $120‐million compound in the Bahamas.

FIGURE 17.4 Ben and his team gather around Sam's infamous Toyota Corolla.

FIGURE 17.5 The inside of Sam's car, where a bottle of Adderall was sitting ...

FIGURE 17.6 Ben poses in front of the bull statue on the lawn outside of Sam...

Chapter 18

FIGURE 18.1 This photo was taken at the dinner just before the poker game.

FIGURE 18.2 One of the security guard vehicles that were watching Ben and hi...

Chapter 19

FIGURE 19.1 Ben poses in front of the abandoned vault at the old Deltec Bank...

Guide

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Epilogue: Catching Up with the Bitsquad

Appendix: Timeline of Events

Glossary of Terms

Index

Wiley End User License Agreement

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Catching Up to FTX

Lessons Learned in My Crusade Against Corruption, Fraud, and Bad Hair

BEN ARMSTRONG

Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Lots of people who used FTX have been messaging me, saying how my warnings about FTX and FTT kept them safe. Some even told me that I had a hand in saving their entire life's savings. I'm blown away and grateful to have been able to help, but I couldn't save everyone. Hell, I couldn't even save myself from the fallout, losing $3 million in company funds on Celsius. Even though I didn't lose funds on FTX, I'm in the same boat as many of you, a victim of this mess.

This book is for all the crypto believers who lost money in FTX, Voyager, Celsius, BlockFi, and Terra Luna. As we're digging out from the aftermath of the FTX scandal, it's clear as day that Alameda Research, led by none other than Sam Bankman‐Fried (SBF), was a big player in the collapse of exchanges, venture capitalist (VC) funds, and projects.

Someone had to stand up and fight for the truth. You are the reason I wrote this book and chased SBF all the way to the Bahamas. People deserved the truth and he needed to be confronted. Sure, Sam and FTX were just one part of the larger “contagion,” but no person or company better symbolizes the anger we all felt.

We still don't know how this saga ends. Many think Sam will walk away scot‐free because of his political connections. But me? I personally think he'll pay the piper and do time. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. My hope and prayer is that we'll see a satisfying resolution that brings justice to all those who got hurt and retribution for all the wrongdoers.

Real closure for all the FTX customers and others caught up in the contagion will only come once user funds are at least partially returned. In the meantime, I want readers who were affected to know there are folks like me out here, fighting for you.

This book should help clear away some of the smoke and mirrors put up by the media. I was among the first people to call Sam out months before the collapse, and I was one of the last faces he saw in the Bahamas before he got shipped back to the United States. My mission has always been to make sure that a Nassau courtroom wasn't the last time Sam sees me. I hope when he's lying in his comfy federal prison bed, every time he shuts his eyes, he still sees my face. I'm the voice of the people he wronged.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my wife Bethany. Without her support, I'm nothing. But for this book, I would like to say thank you especially to my kids: Madden, Zoe, and Blake. During the FTX debacle and aftermath, you kids let the world borrow your dad for the greater good. I missed you each time I traveled and every night I spent away from home. I hope you all understand one day that there are things beyond yourself you may be asked to fight for that are bigger than the moment. And I pray if you ever receive this call, that you have a family as supportive as ours so you can answer it.

Thanks to all my Bahamian trip crew: Ryan Lo, AJ Pleasanton, and Bryan Emory. We went down there not knowing what to expect. And we absolutely crushed it. A special thanks to Chris Zaknun for sponsoring our second trip to the Bahamas. Thank you to all the investors who came with us, especially Rebecca. You are an icon and a fighter. Your bravery is recognized and you made a real difference.

Special thanks to the man, the myth, the legend… Lincoln Bain. No one knows how to fight corruption like you, sir. I have a feeling this is not the last time we will fight together and you have a life‐long supporter. We are going to make you President of the Bahamas in the next few years. I'm very confident.

Thanks to everyone who assisted in research, including the guys at $REEF, Dave Mastrianni, Gretchen Carlson, Marc Cohodes, @realsixfig on Twitter, Dominic Williams, and all those who wished to stay anonymous. Biggest thanks goes to Hussein Faraj. Without Hussein, still no one would realize the extent of the atrocities that SBF committed against the projects he tried to destroy. I appreciate your support.

Special thanks to the person who makes this book even possible, my guy John Vibes. John and I wrote this book together. I'm the big‐idea storyteller, and John is the detail‐oriented gap filler. From the first time we discussed this book in Washington, D.C., to the date it was finished was about four months. When we work together, we absolutely crush it.

Last, thanks to all the people we met along the way in the Bahamas. The Bahamian people are good as gold. You all deserve better than your government is giving you.

About the Author

Ben Armstrong is the founder and host of Bitboy Crypto, the largest crypto YouTube channel in the United States, with over 1 million subscribers. He started his crypto journey in 2012 and has been fascinated by the technology and the culture ever since. Armstrong launched Bitboy Crypto in 2018, and the channel became one of the most followed sources for crypto news and education. Known for his clear, relatable explanations, Armstrong has been successful in breaking down the often complex world of crypto for the everyday person. Aside from his work on YouTube, Armstrong is also the author of the bestselling book Catching Up to Crypto, which is one of the best‐reviewed books in the genre. He has been a frequent speaker at industry events, sharing his insights on crypto markets and the future of blockchain technology.

Introduction

I want to tell you a story about how I stumbled across the crime of the century and helped take down one of the biggest private sector scammers that the world has ever seen. As you may know, I run a YouTube channel that has grown into one of the largest media platforms in the crypto industry. As the platform has grown, I have found myself in the position to make an impact, both in the industry and in my community. This has given me the opportunity to meet so many great people and sometimes even make a difference, but it has also ruffled a lot of feathers, and put me at odds with some very powerful people.

This is actually how I came head to head with the notorious Sam Bankman Fried, or SBF as he is known by many. Some of my efforts to make an impact are taking place in Washington, D.C., SBFs old stomping grounds. When I first began dealing with regulators and politicians on the federal level, I actually thought SBF and I had common interests and that we both wanted the best for the industry, but after just one interaction with him and his team, I learned that he was a wolf in sheep's clothing. I found out that he had very evil plans for the industry, and I set out to do everything I could to stop him.

In the months leading up to his downfall and the collapse of his empire, I was his biggest enemy. I was screaming from the rooftops about how he was corrupt and attempting to destroy the industry, and a lot of people laughed at me. I had plenty of support among my community, many of whom took my advice and pulled their money off FTX while they still could, but I faced a ton of resistance as well.

Sam went out of his way to construct this angelic public image of himself, and I say what I feel, even if people might not like it, so naturally there was a large segment of Crypto Twitter and crypto media that were siding with him just because they didn't like how I was delivering my message. I wasn't going to let a few trolls and a little bit of negative press stop me though, so I kept on digging, and I kept on speaking out, which set off a chain of events that resulted in me “pulling up” to the doorstep of his $120 million property in the Bahamas.

As soon as withdrawals stopped at FTX, it became apparent that fraud or theft had to be involved somehow. All of that money doesn't just go missing because of some kind of accounting error. It seemed to me that his guilt was obvious, but most of the media coverage was about this poor innocent rich kid from a “good” elite family who was corrupted by the fast‐dealing world of crypto. It was so frustrating to watch because this story couldn't have been further from the truth. In reality, it was SBF who came and corrupted the young and idealistic crypto industry. Sure, we have our flaws in crypto, and we are no strangers to crime, but SBF seems to have been a pathological scammer who was systematically destroying the industry from within so he could take it all for himself, and he almost pulled it off.

This is why this book, and our side of the story as an industry, is so important. There are so many twists and turns to this story that have never been uttered in the public discourse, at least on a mainstream level, that are absolutely essential to understanding what happened.

In the following pages, I'll peel back the layers of his deceit, revealing the gravity of his scams. You'll see just how he wielded influence like a weapon to force his way to the top, leaving a trail of broken dreams and empty bags in his path. From unsuspecting startups to hopeful investors, no one was safe from his ruthless tactics.

If you invested in crypto while he was in the industry, there is no doubt that he cost you money somewhere along the way, if not directly through a deposit on FTX or an investment in Solana, then indirectly through moving the markets with his schemes.

This is against everything that crypto stands for. It's not about creating some digital version of Wall Street, it's about taking power away from the elite few and giving it back to the people. It's about making the world of finance more open, more transparent, and more equitable. It's about breaking free from the outdated, heavy‐handed, and often corrupt practices of traditional finance. This is the essence of crypto.

FTX looks more like a Wall Street trading firm than a crypto company, with how everything is hidden and centralized. The FTX disaster and its ripple effects have given us many harsh lessons, teaching us about the things we need to avoid, but now we're learning, adapting, and becoming stronger. Many people are starting to realize that decentralization is more than just a buzzword.

Unlike traditional finance, where a handful of institutions control the flow of money and information, a decentralized system allows for distributed power and transparency. It gives us the power to control our own economic destinies without the need for rent‐seeking middlemen. In a world where economic inequality is rampant, this principle is more important than ever.

In traditional finance, institutions act as gatekeepers. They dictate the terms and conditions, which can make it difficult for the average person to gain access to essential financial services. Everything happens behind closed doors too, instead of on a public blockchain, so fraud and thievery is able to go unnoticed until it's too late.

The SBF saga has shown us what can happen when the ideals of crypto are compromised. When centralization creeps into our space, it opens the door for manipulation and deceit. This should be a reminder that the mission of replacing traditional finance isn't just about changing the tools we use but, more importantly, about changing the very ethos that governs our financial systems.

As we look to the future, it's clear that the fight is far from over. There will always be those who seek to exploit the system for their own gain, but this is why the crypto community needs to stick together and get involved. It's up to us to uphold the ideals of decentralization and to push back against attempts to centralize power.

As we all rush to secure our bags, we must remember why we're here. We are not just seeking financial freedom, we are also fighting for a fundamental shift in how business is done around the world. This book is not just about exposing the truth. It's a rallying cry for everyone who believes in the transformative power of crypto. We are the true leaders of this industry, so it's up to us to make sure that it lives up to its promise.

Let's get into it.

CHAPTER 1“Unhinged”: October 20, 2022

It was a balmy 69°F in the new Hit Network studio in Kennesaw, Georgia, just about an hour outside of Atlanta, and I was already starting to sweat a bit. My show was just about to begin, and I was fired up. That little weasel Sam Bankman‐Fried (SBF) had just declared war on the crypto industry. I had seen this coming, and had been warning my audience for the past month that SBF, the self‐appointed “king of crypto” was trying to take over and ruin everything that we held sacred.

I knew there was something different about that day. I could feel the energy of a cosmic shift happening. Right before the show started, I went to the restroom. On my way out, I stared at myself in the mirror. I knew this was my moment. I looked deep into my own soul asking myself whether I was prepared for what was to come. I knew what was bubbling under the surface was going to be powerful, and I was ready to answer the call no matter the risk. After today, things would permanently be different for me, my channel, and my entire staff.

As I grabbed the mic to begin the show, something took over me. All the emotions, all the anger, everything I had suppressed for months suddenly was put on full display for everyone to see. My rants and emotions are part of what my audience likes about me. Today, though, was not about pleasing the audience. It was about drawing a line in the sand. Standing up to the elite of traditional finance. It was time to start getting these bad actors out of our space. By the end of that show, things would, in fact, forever be different for me and my team.

This chapter covers the moment where I effectively declared war on Sam Bankman‐Fried, months before he was exposed as a fraud.

I'm pretty sure it was exactly 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time when I grabbed the mic and started the show that morning. I couldn't get into the topics that we had planned for the day until I vented about the SBF situation. It was just too important.

“This… today… may be the most important moment in the history of crypto in the United States! We are at a moment in time where crypto is either going to free the people or enslave the people,” I said, as members of the Bitsquad were tuning in from all over the world.

“Which side do you stand on?” I asked, “Because we're going to be calling out Sam Bankman‐Fried!”

The night before, he published his recommendations for regulation of the crypto industry and, oh, boy, was it bad. I imagined him writing his little centralization manifesto on one of those notorious bean bags at the FTX headquarters in the Bahamas while hopped up on Adderall at all hours of the night. He was basically just suggesting that we give up on decentralization and allow the government to control everything just so we could fast‐track regulation and get the institutions onboard as soon as possible. His audacity was rather impressive. Nobody knew who this guy was two years beforehand, and he didn't even pretend to respect the values that we share as an industry, like decentralization, privacy, and transparency. He was a Wall Street kid from a very politically connected family, who didn't understand the counterculture ethos of crypto and didn't even try. For some reason though, he managed to earn a lot of respect and trust from people in the industry. He was seen as the golden boy of crypto throughout 2021 even though he came out of nowhere and wasn't really a “crypto guy.” Even after he published that screed, a lot of people in the industry were still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because of his background and his political connections. People were saying that we had to hear him out because of “how much he did for crypto,” and it made my blood boil. What exactly did he do for crypto that was positive?

I went to Twitter and pulled up Sam's recent tweet that linked to his proposal, which was titled “Possible Digital Asset Industry Standards,” to show how he was proposing total centralization and censorship in the industry, but I was distracted by a bit of drama that had been brewing on Twitter since the night before. I was going back and forth with SBF and trolling him a bit about his proposal and his history of questionable behavior in the industry. I specifically called him out about using VC (venture capitalist) money to pump and dump Solana, and that's when another crypto influencer jumped in the replies to attack me for no reason. The comment was from Ryan Sean Adams, co‐host of the Bankless podcast.

His Tweet read, “Please dear lord and any lawmakers or adults reading this tweet just know BitBoy doesn't represent us either.”

The influencer game is very cliquey and Ryan and I run in different circles, so I was having trouble placing who he was at that moment. The name really seemed familiar though, and I later realized that I actually referenced him in my last book, Catching Up to Crypto, when discussing his “DeFi Mullet Thesis.” I quickly noticed the Bankless branding though, and I was instantly confused. Aren't these guys supposed to be in favor of decentralization? Aren't we on the same side? Why is this guy taking shots at me instead of joining me to “ratio” Sam? What frustrated me the most was this elitist attitude that the well‐dressed and well‐connected “adults” are the only ones who can speak for the industry. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of lawyers, VCs, and other varieties of suits who do great work for the industry, but they don't run the industry… that's kinda the whole point. This technology is supposed to be building a financial system that works from the bottom up instead of the top down, where control is decentralized. This attitude that we needed establishment representatives to be speaking for us is exactly what gave Sam so much power in the first place, and people didn't seem to be getting that. After seeing that Tweet, on air I launched into the “rant heard around the world.” The part that went viral was basically just me roasting him about his glasses and skinny tie and literally anything that popped into my mind as I clicked on his Twitter page, but I also had plenty to say about FTX, SBF, and the state of our industry.

And this was when it just came out of my mouth. I said, “I don't represent the people? THE F**K I DON'T. I am THE ONE who DOES.” There were never truer and more heartfelt words uttered on YouTube than that right there. The F‐word heard around the world.

It wasn't necessarily the content of the rant that made it go viral, it was the intensity. I was yelling and pounding on the table and swinging the microphone back and forth like some kind of death metal musician. I was, as the kids say, “literally shaking.” If I wasn't all hyped up I could have put forward a more level‐headed response, and I wish I was able to. But I was ANGRY. Ryan may have been the one to set me off that morning, but the true target of my rage was Sam Bankman‐Fried. Behind the scenes I had been working away on a bill to establish a Digital Asset Commission under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that would finally take the power away from the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that it usurped over the last year. They had no business running crypto, and yet, somehow “Dirty” Gary Gensler, as I call him on the channel, was the lead regulator for crypto.

I had actually read Ryan Adams's tweet the night before, and my reaction was, well, pretty much the same action I took on the show that day. In the history of my show, in two years of live streams, I had never planned a rant or practiced a line. On this day though, I knew where I was going and I knew what I was going to say. It was going to be my message to the crypto world, to the fraudster TradFi frat bros who had taken over our space, and to every average person watching my audience, that I was not going to take it anymore. I've always kept my show family‐friendly. I always want to be proud of what I do and say on my show, and not have my own elementary school–aged children ask me why I said something horrible. Only once in the history of my show did I utter the “F” word when I was calling out F2 Pool for dumping the Bitcoin market back in the bull run. But today, I knew I was going to say it. And I knew it was going to have a massive impact when I stared into the camera and connected with my audience. They were going to know that this isn't just a regular rant. This is a marked change in how we are going to do business at BitBoy Crypto. I was starting to realize the power of the platform I built, and with that, I began to feel a certain responsibility to use this newfound power to steer the industry in a positive direction. I talked about decentralization and the libertarian philosophy of crypto from time to time on my show, but it wasn't really my main focus in the past because I knew that wasn't what most people wanted to hear. Most people tune into crypto YouTube channels because they want to learn about new opportunities and find out how they can get rich. Helping my fans achieve financial freedom is important and it will always be a part of the work that I do, but it's also not possible if our industry deviates too far from its values. This is why I have started to focus more of my content on some of these deeper philosophical issues that impact the future of our industry. I also feel that those of us who have been around for a while have a responsibility to keep the newcomers safe and warn them about the scams and grifters who are sadly all too common in this industry. Scammers and grifters taking advantage of people new to crypto who were too naive to understand differently. Most people don't understand what they're investing in when they come into crypto; they are brought in by the hype and dreams of hitting it big, but many of us do end up staying for the philosophies. And those philosophies were at risk. If I didn't stand up for these principles, then who would?

The one regret I do have is that I focused so much on his appearance. I obviously have no problem with glasses—that would be pretty ridiculous. What I really wanted to say was that we don't want the suits running our industry like they do in politics and traditional finance, and his glasses really tied the look together in my weird brain. Unfortunately for both of us, Ryan was wearing his Sunday best in his Twitter profile, so he looked the part of the suit, and he was kind of acting like one in the replies, so he caught my wrath as a result. To say that I was not a legitimate representative for the industry was a slap in the face, especially considering all of the work that we were doing behind the scenes to push for regulation that would actually be good for the industry, not to mention all of the people that our channel has introduced to the philosophical side of crypto. From the outside looking in, it might seem like I have a short fuse in cases like this, but people need to understand that I am constantly hearing all of the same incorrect things repeated by people all the time. When I clap back at someone in a way that others consider harsh, it's not just that individual that I'm responding to, it's also the sea of other people who troll and harass me with the same comments.

A Showdown in D.C.

It was actually through my efforts in Washington, D.C., that I figured out that SBF was up to no good. When I first got involved with crypto lobbying efforts, I assumed that Sam and I were probably on the same side, so my friend Brian Evans reached out to his contacts at FTX to see if we could combine our lobbying efforts in D.C. We knew that it was going to cost us at least $1.5 million to get the bill we were working on introduced with a good chance of passing, and FTX had a reputation for having deep pockets at the time.

Of course, we had no idea the company was insolvent at the time, and thought that with its funding and our audience, we had a real chance of passing positive crypto legislation, so we got in contact with Brett Harrison, who was the president of FTX at the time. He forwarded the text of our bill to the company's policy team, who said they would look at it right away, but then they went silent quickly after that conversation. The FTX Head of Policy was none other than former CFTC Commissioner Merk Wetjen. He ghosted us for about three weeks, and we started to get a bad feeling that something wasn't right, so we asked one of the politicians whom we were working with to reach out to them. That politician was none other than a former U.S. Senator from California, Barbara Boxer. When Boxer spoke with the FTX team, the group pitched a different bill that was actually very bad for crypto, and to add insult to injury, they attempted to poach our politician to support their bill. Luckily, the offer from FTX was shot down, and Boxer came back and told us everything.

Another interesting detail that we learned about the FTX bill was that it was recently updated to include some of the language from the bill that we let them see weeks before, to give the appearance that it was crypto‐friendly. They took many of the buzzwords, but left out any of the substance that would have laid down a foundation for freedom in this industry. Instead, SBF and FTX were calling for a federal Bit License, which would have placed total control of the industry in the hands of the government and effectively killed decentralized finance (DeFi). We'll dig into the details later, but this was the first shot in the war, SBF and FTX attempting to stall our bill, copy its language, and steal our representatives. This went down the month before, and I had been on the warpath for Sam ever since. I first raised the alarm exactly a month before my now‐famous rant, on September 20, just after I learned about what they were doing behind my back. That was when I first announced that FTX was “dead to me” and called for the Bitsquad to take their funds off the exchange. We explained that we were going to be selling our FTX Token (FTT), a coin we were very bullish on at one point along with all of our Solana as SBF was heavily associated with them. Both coins, well, they were dead to me forever I explained to my audience. Oddly enough, right after that broadcast, I got a notification that Brett Harrison, then President of FTX US, had just followed me on Twitter. Odd timing huh?

A couple weeks later I sent him a Direct Message (DM) asking, “So, you trying to get this federal BitLicense going or trying to stop it? Saw you followed me days after I outed it. More people are on to it now. Just trying to figure out if you are friend or foe here. 0% chance this doesn't blow up in Sam's face if he continues to pursue it.”

I didn't get a response from him until much later, but within a week, Harrison was stepping down from his position as president under rather mysterious circumstances. I wasn't sure what to think, but I didn't have the whole story yet either. I knew that SBF was shady and that something ugly was going on at FTX, but I didn't know the extent of it.

My rant that day in October went mega‐viral, and usually I don't really like it when my rants go viral because there is much better content on my streams that I would rather people see, but this time I actually didn't mind it because it brought a lot of attention to what SBF was doing behind the scenes. I exclaimed multiple times that if becoming an internet meme was what I had to do to get the awareness of Sam's evil out to the people, then I was willing to go through that. And become a meme I did. Articles and videos with titles like “Bitboy Calls SBF a ‘Devil’ in Unhinged Rant” were abundant in crypto media that day, and the general consensus was that I was being too hard on the kid, but that rant planted seeds of doubt across the industry and started a chain of events that would eventually lead to downfall of SBF and FTX. I knew that I would be vindicated someday, but I didn't realize just how fast life was gonna come at Sam Bankman‐Fried.

CHAPTER 2What's Beef?