Sam Bankman-Fried Net Worth Analysis

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has had his net worth called into question after the cryptocurrency exchange announced Friday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and he resigned as CEO. Bankman-Fried was among the 100 richest people in the world, with a net worth of about $16 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. However, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly claims to have only $100,000 left in his bank account after the collapse of his cryptocurrency company.

While authorities work to recover FTX’s cash, the extent of Bankman-Fried’s wealth will be under ongoing review.

Who Is Sam Bankman-Fried?

Sam Bankman-Fried was the CEO of FTX, an exchange for cryptocurrency based in the Bahamas. It once had a market valuation of over $33 billion and until recently was the world’s fourth–largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.

Also known to some as “SBF,” Sam Bankman-Fried is also commonly referred to as the “FTX founder,” although he actually co-created the cryptocurrency exchange with Gary Wang. The one-time billionaire also founded a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm named Alameda Research, valued at around $1 billion as of 2021, with $13 billion in assets. Alameda Research was headed up by Caroline Ellison and is now insolvent.

Outside of his own founded companies, Sam also made money from stakes in other businesses. For instance, he had a stake in the Robinhood markets brokerage. At the time of writing, BlockFi is currently suing SBF to reclaim the Robinhood stake shares they were promised.

How Did Sam Bankman-Fried Make His Money?

The FTX founder started his journey into the billionaire landscape in 2014, when he finished his physics degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following his graduation, he spent three years as a trader at the quantitative trading firm “Jane Street” on Wall Street before eventually launching Alameda in 2017.

It wasn’t until 2019 that the founder of FTX got together with Gary Wang to create the world-leading cryptocurrency exchange. By 2021, Sam Bankman-Fried had an estimated net worth of approximately $22.5 billion, making him one of the richest people under the age of 30.

Allegedly, the founder is a big believer in altruism and plans to give away some of his massive FTX net worth eventually. However, he had only donated approximately 0.1% of his earnings before filing for bankruptcy.

What Is Sam Bankman-Fried’s Net Worth in 2023?

Before his business collapsed in November 2022, SBF was one of the wealthiest people in crypto, thanks to his FTX exchange and trading firm Alameda Research. So it’s a spectacular downfall for Bankman-Fried, who was hailed as a modern-day J.P. Morgan for stepping in to bail out struggling crypto companies before his own business imploded.

His ownership of about half of the FTX exchange and a large portion of FTT tokens accounted for the bulk of his wealth (which was an estimated $26.5 billion at its peak).

As mentioned above, SBF’s wealth today is around 100k.

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