Founder and CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried “destroyed the lives” of many current and former employees of the company. A source familiar with the situation said.
A highly credible source very close to the Sam/FTX situation on what was going on internally: pic.twitter.com/iGO3sbvRr0
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) November 10, 2022
A screenshot of his message was posted on Twitter. Account holders, including journalist Colina Wu, said they had verified its authenticity. It is believed to concern an employee of a Bitcoin exchange.
“Everyone at FTX is shocked and upset. They were fighting for Sam until they learned what was happening from Twitter. Only his inner circle was aware of where this was headed,” the statement said.
According to the source, the head of FTX promoted the platform as a secure store of value not only among external users but also within the workforce. As a result, many deposited their salaries with the exchange shortly after receiving them.
Employee bonuses typically consisted of FTX stock and FTT tokens, which were also stored on the platform.
In October 2021 the company bought back a stake owned by Binance. According to the insider, Bankman-Fried and product director Ramnik Arora offered employees to purchase shares at a 50% discount. The purchase limit was $500,000.
The leadership described these investments as a “stunning opportunity” that would grow four to five times in the coming years.
“Many people invested more than they could afford. Everyone believed in Sam. Most lost their life savings because they saw FTX as a surefire bet thanks to him. Now workers fear that their money was sent to Alameda,” the employee said.
He also spoke about the company’s practice of layoffs. According to him, in early June Bankman-Fried told CNBC in an interview that, amid widespread layoffs by many industry players, FTX planned to expand its headcount. The next day more than 20 people were fired. Through Slack, the exchange’s head explained that this happened “due to cultural differences.” Since January 2022, such a reason has frequently been used to dismiss employees dissatisfied with management’s stance, the employee noted.
As reported, the ‘gap’ in FTX’s balance sheet amounts to up to $8 billion, according to media reports. To preserve the company’s solvency, a $4 billion capital injection is needed.
Bankman-Fried asserted that the value of FTX’s assets exceeds its liabilities to customers, but acknowledged liquidity problems in the funds.
Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news in our Telegram — crypto news, rates and analysis.