On November 10, 2022, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) addressed the crypto community in a thread posted on Twitter. SBF noted that he messed up and “should have done better” and also detailed that at some point he “may have more to say about a particular sparring partner.”
SBF Says He Messed Up, Claims ‘Hands Were Tied For Duration Of Possible Binance Deal’
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has discussed some updates regarding FTX in an apologetic Twitter thread published on Thursday. The FTX CEO said he “should have communicated more recently,” and further claimed that his “hands were tied for the duration of the possible Binance deal.” In the update, SBF insisted that the update only applied to FTX International and not FTX US, and he further emphasized that “FTX US users are fine.”
“FTX International currently has a total market value of assets/collateral higher than customer deposits. But that is different from liquidity for delivery – as you can see from the state of withdrawals. Liquidity varies widely, from very to very little,” SBF said in its Twitter thread.
The FTX manager added:
The whole story here is one I’m still in the process of fleshing out every detail of, but as a very high level, I’ve dreaded it twice. The first time, poor internal labeling of bank-related accounts meant that I was significantly worse at feeling the users’ margin. I thought it was much lower.
FTX sees $5 billion in withdrawals on Sunday, SBF closes Alameda Research Trading, Bankman-Fried talks of certain ‘sparring partner’
SBF also said that when it rains, it rains, and on Sunday the company saw $5 billion in withdrawals that wanted to be processed. He added that while he can’t make any promises, “the company is spending the week doing everything we can to raise liquidity.”
“There are a number of players that we are in talks with, LOIs, term sheets, etc,” SBF said. “We’ll see how it ends,” he added. The FTX boss also told the community that his quantitative trading platform Alameda Research is ending operations. “Alameda Research is discontinuing trading,” SBF said. “They’re not doing any of the weird stuff I see on Twitter — and nothing major at all. And somehow, soon they won’t be trading on FTX anymore.”
While the thread was full of excuses and SBF said many times that he messed up, the FTX manager tweeted about a so-called sparring partner. “At some point I may have more to say about a particular sparring partner, so to speak,” the FTX boss stated. But you know, glass house. So for now I’ll just say: well played; you won.”
According to a report published by Axios, two people familiar with the matter say FTX has attempted to engage with Kraken in a bailout funding bid. Also, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has ordered FTX to cease operations immediately, citing that the regulator wants to protect creditors and investors from harm.
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$5 billion in withdrawals, Alameda Research, Apology, Binance, Binance Deal, fsa, ftx, FTX Exchange, FTX International, FTX Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX.US, Japan’s Financial Services Agency, Kraken, order, Sam Bankman-Fried, sbf , sparring partner, Sunset Alameda, trading, Twitter thread
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Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is the news editor at Bitcoin.com News and a financial technology journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
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