FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried: Your Guide to the Crypto Crash

Sam Bankman-Fried was heralded as the savior of crypto. In recent weeks, his empire collapsed. Here’s what you need to know about the unraveling of FTX, including its founder’s rise to fame, how the firm failed and the collateral damage to customers and the crypto industry at large.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was the paragon of crypto.

Mr. Bankman-Fried, often referred to as SBF, vaulted to celebrity with his attempts to make his crypto exchange into a household name.

The 30-year-old billionaire’s eccentric, unkempt appearance created an aura of genius. Venture capitalists got on board. High-profile athletes and musicians, and a wave of FTX ads, encouraged regular people to use the exchange to tap crypto’s moneymaking potential.

Mr. Bankman-Fried and FTX were among the biggest donors in the recent midterm election cycle, boosting their visibility in Washington. And when other crypto firms started collapsing this year, SBF extended loans to prop up ailing competitors.