Sam Bankman-Fried’s $16 billion assets plunge to zero as his crypto firm goes bankrupt

Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the crypto exchange company FTX, was worth an estimated $16 billion according to the Wall Street Journal, until his assets plunged all the way down to zero towards the end of this week on Friday. The shocking nosedive in his net worth comes after he resigned as the CEO of the crypto giant, which recently filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on the morning of Friday, the Associated Press reported. 

According to a report which cited the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bankman was one of the 100 richest people in the world with an estimated worth of $16 billion on Monday, just four days before his company announced its collapse and was valued at $1. "I sincerely apologize," wrote Bankman, who goes by the acronym SBF on Twitter. In a series of tweets on Thursday, the founder assured that he will do whatever it takes to save the firm. "So, right now, we're spending the week doing everything we can to raise liquidity. I can't make any promises about that. But I'm going to try. And give anything I have to if that will make it work,” he wrote. 

FTX founder opens up about bankruptcy on Twitter

Revealing that the company filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the 30-year-old wrote: “Today, I filed FTX, FTX US, and Alameda for voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the US". “I'm really sorry, again, that we ended up here. Hopefully, things can find a way to recover. Hopefully, this can bring some amount of transparency, trust, and governance to them. Ultimately hopefully it can be better for customers,” he wrote in a Twitter thread.

Continuing the thread, he said that the bankruptcy filing does not indicate the “end for the companies or their ability to provide value and funds to their customers chiefly,” adding that he remains hopeful over what happens next. Addressing concerns, Bankman said that he will soon provide clarification on “where things are in terms of user recovery” as he currently puts together all details. “I was shocked to see things unravel the way they did earlier this week. I will, soon, write up a more complete post on the play-by-play, but I want to make sure that I get it right when I do,” he wrote.