Tausi Insider

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and his former wife, Gisele Bündchen, closed an equity deal with FTX in June, 2021. The Associated Press FTX Ltd., the world’s second largest crypto company, was seen as a trustworthy, stable bet in the industry. Its near-collapse is having ripple effects through the crypto sector at alarming speed, with the price of Bitcoin and Ether plummeting more than 20 per cent over a week. The FTX crash is not only bad news for its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, who likely lost billions of dollars, it’s also devastating for many investors. Mr. Bankman-Fried was close to U.S. lawmakers, and managed to court celebrities and sophisticated institutional investment managers to back his exchange. Beyond investors, FTX built an impressive portfolio of partners and ambassadors, many of whom were paid in stakes in the company. With the crypto company’s collapse, many sponsorships and partnerships are up in the air. Here’s a list of some of the people Mr. Bankman-Fr...

FTX Ltd., one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, after the company was valued at as much as US$32-billion only a month earlier. DADO RUVIC/Reuters Sam Sivarajan holds a doctorate in behavioural finance and has led wealth management teams at several of Canada’s largest financial institutions. He is the author of Making Your Money Work: The Secrets to Financial Health and Uphill: How to Apply Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science to Life’s Choices and Challenges . It was one of the most spectacular, and brutally short, company implosions in history. FTX Ltd., one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022. Only a month earlier, the company was valued at as much as US$32-billion and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (or SBF, as he is known), saw his net worth collapse from around US$15-billion to zero over the same time frame. Students of investment history know that FTX was not the first and will not be the last su...

Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded and led FTX until a liquidity crunch forced the cryptocurrency exchange to declare bankruptcy, is escorted out of the Magistrate Court building in Nassau, Bahamas on December 13, 2022. DANTE CARRER/Reuters Kevin O’Leary was in Miami having lunch with the business team of Circle Internet Financial LLC, a Boston-based technology company that had come up with USDC, the so-called stablecoin cryptocurrency pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar. It was the Bitcoin 2021 Conference held in early June that year, a sold-out event charging US$1,499 for a standard pass and about US$21,000 for an exclusive “Whale Pass,” which provided attendees with access to extra speakers, parties, private areas and bars. As he broke bread with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, a senior representative from what was then the world’s second-largest crypto exchange approached Mr. O’Leary: “Have you met Sam Bankman-Fried yet?” “No, I haven’t,” Mr. O’Leary replied. “Well, have you heard abou...

Crypto exchange FTX has recovered more than $5-billion but the extent of customer losses in its collapse is still unknown, an attorney for the bankrupt company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried said on Wednesday. The company, which was valued a year ago at $32-billion, filed for bankruptcy in November and U.S. prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of orchestrating an “epic” fraud that may have cost investors, customers and lenders billions of dollars. “We have located over $5-billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities,” Andy Dietderich, an attorney for FTX, told a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware at the start of Wednesday’s hearing. Dietderich also said that the company plans to sell non-strategic investments that had a book value of $4.6-billion. However, Dietderich said the legal team is still working to create accurate internal records and the actual customer shortfall remains unknown. The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission has estimated missing custo...

Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded and led FTX until a liquidity crunch forced the cryptocurrency exchange to declare bankruptcy, is escorted out of the Magistrate Court building in Nassau, Bahamas on December 13, 2022. DANTE CARRER/Reuters Kevin O’Leary was in Miami having lunch with the business team of Circle Internet Financial LLC, a Boston-based technology company that had come up with USDC, the so-called stablecoin cryptocurrency pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar. It was the Bitcoin 2021 Conference held in early June that year, a sold-out event charging US$1,499 for a standard pass and about US$21,000 for an exclusive “Whale Pass,” which provided attendees with access to extra speakers, parties, private areas and bars. As he broke bread with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, a senior representative from what was then the world’s second-largest crypto exchange approached Mr. O’Leary: “Have you met Sam Bankman-Fried yet?” “No, I haven’t,” Mr. O’Leary replied. “Well, have you heard abou...