How Trouble Started Surrounding Cryptocurrency, FTX
Newsy
As the cryptocurrency collapse continues, empires with billion-dollar values are continuing to topple thanks to a lack of oversight.
In the world of cryptocurrency, trading firm FTX and its wunderkind CEO Sam Bankman-Fried quickly rose to success and legitimacy in a highly volatile market — inking deals with athletes like Tom Brady and Steph Curry, securing naming rights for the Miami Heat's stadium, and airing a Super Bowl ad earlier this year.
Yet the FTX empire, once valued at $32 billion, has toppled in a matter of weeks, sending shockwaves throughout the crypto industry.
The trouble started earlier this month after reports showed FTX used its own cryptocurrency, called FTT, to prop up a hedge fund owned by FTX. That drew questions about FTX's liquidity and pushed major holders of the cryptocurrency to sell off their tokens — including Binance, a rival exchange which held roughly $530 million worth of FTT.
