The author behind some of the most interesting stories in the past 30 years (Moneyball, The Big Short, The Blind Side, Liars Poker) is back. This time about the infamous Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. You could almost call it serendipity that Michael Lewis was already writing this book on Bankman-Fried when the collapse of FTX occurred and its founder was arrested (and subsequently guilty, now facing over 100 years in prison). In this book, Lewis details the life of the FTX founder from his early days through to an in-depth behind the scenes look at what FTX was and how it effectively spun out of control.
As always it is a story underpinned by interviews, recollections and opinions from many sources, including those within the inner sanctum of FTX. Bankman-Fried is an effective altruist who has an extremely unique personality. The way FTX was run was nothing less than alarming, with Bankman-Fried certainly not a traditional CEO. In fact, you could almost describe him as ‘mythical creature’ given at times no one seemed to know where he was, what he was doing, what he was spending money on, or where he would be next. Somehow for a period of time (on paper) he became one of the wealthiest people on the planet. In getting an understanding of Bankman-Fried what seems hard to reconcile is how many people either bought into the hype of it, or simply chose to ignore the warning signs. The story of FTX and Bankman-Fried has similarities to that of the Theranos fraud, led by Elizabeth Holmes. Young, powerful, incredibly smart, committed to their beliefs which were ultimately underpinned questionable morals and ethics. Everything is always clear in hindsight.
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