BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried Breaks Silence with Twitter Thread, and Reveals FTX's Next Steps
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BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried Breaks Silence with Twitter Thread, and Reveals FTX's Next Steps

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Created 1yr ago, last updated 1yr ago

SBF stressed that the current liquidity crisis affects users of FTX's international exchange, and not customers who are based in the U.S.

BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried Breaks Silence with Twitter Thread, and Reveals FTX's Next Steps

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Sam Bankman-Fried has apologized for the crisis engulfing FTX, tweeting: "I f***** up, and should have done better."

In a lengthy Twitter thread, the embattled CEO admitted that he should have been more communicative — and offered an update on where things currently stand.

SBF stressed that the current liquidity crisis affects users of FTX's international exchange, and not customers who are based in the U.S.

He insisted FTX International "currently has a total market value of assets/collateral higher than client deposits" — but this is different from liquidity.

And it's this lack of liquidity that has caused issues with withdrawals, as the exchange didn't have enough USD on hand to honor requests from users.

"When it rains, it pours. We saw roughly $5 billion of withdrawals on Sunday — the largest by a huge margin."

The 30-year-old went on to say that his "number one priority" is doing right by users — and at present, FTX is racing to raise liquidity from external partners.

"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 said talks are ongoing with a number of players — and "every penny" of the funds raised "will go straight to users, unless or until we've done right by them."

"After that, investors — old and new — and employees who have fought for what's right for their career, and who weren't responsible for any of the f*** ups. Because at the end of the day, I was CEO, which means that *I* was responsible for making sure that things went well.  *I*, ultimately, should have been on top of everything. I clearly failed in that.  I'm sorry."

SBF went on to confirm that Alameda Research will wind down trading — and if FTX continues to operate, it will offer "radical transparency." Admitting that this should "probably always" have been the case, he explained:

"All of the stakeholders would have a hard look at FTX governance. I will not be around if I'm not wanted. All of the stakeholders — investors, regulators, users — would have a large part to play in how it would be run."

In a cryptic message to a "particular sparring partner" — a nod to Binance's CEO, Changpeng Zhao — he said:

"Well played; you won."

SBF finished by vowing to keep sharing updates as they come in.

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