Jewish billionaire loses all in latest crypto crash

Crisis-struck cryptocurrency platform FTX went bankrupt in the United States on Friday and its chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried resigned, the latest blow to the increasingly volatile domain of digital currencies.

Bankman-Fried, a Hong Kong-based Jewish-American investor, is estimated to have lost his entire $16 billion fortune in one the greatest-ever destructions of wealth in history.

At the peak, the 30-year-old had a net worth of $26 billion, yet the downfall of his crypto empire rendered his assets worthless. 

He issued a "sincere apology," adding that FTX would do "everything we can to raise liquidity."

Bankman-Fried, the son of Stanford Law School professors and a graduate of the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has long been a vocal advocate for smoother access to the crypto market for the general public, particularly in the U.S.

He cultivated friendships in Washington — including supporting U.S. President Joe Biden's election campaign to the tune of over $5 million — and became the subject of glowing tributes when he stepped in to rescue other ailing crypto companies earlier in the year.

Yet, doubts persisted about the financial stability of FTX, despite Bankman-Fried's good standing in Washington as a public face of crypto investing, a domain often viewed with suspicion as a refuge for money launderers, sanctions busters and child pornographers. 

On Friday, the worst fears were corroborated. 

“I’m deeply sorry that we got into this place and for my role in it,” Bankman-Fried told FTX employees on Tuesday morning. “I fucked up.”