California-born Sam Bankman-Fried launched FTX — a derivatives-focused cryptocurrency exchange in 2019. Earlier this month, he raised $900m in a funding round that valued FTX at $18bn. But Bankman-Fried, 29, is no ordinary Billionaire.
He has set his sights on helping to secure the long-term future of humanity and plans to donate most of his estimated $10bn wealth to high-impact charities.
After a recent severing of ties with former bedfellows Binance, it is also clear that FTX has set its sights on claiming the crypto-exchange throne. Could Bankman-Fried’s approach to regulatory compliance combined with a healthy dose of altruism bring about a sea of change in the blockchain space and beyond?