FTX Says Sam Bankman-Fried Does Not Speak On Its Behalf

FTX is trying to do damage control in the midst of a bankruptcy process that has sent shockwaves throughout the whole crypto industry.

In a small Twitter thread, the official account of FTX spoke out regarding their relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried following the bankruptcy. The account attributes the words to John Ray, Chief Restructuring Officer and new CEO of the company following the resignation of Sam Bankman-Fried.

(2/3) As previously announced, Mr. Bankman-Fried resigned on November 11 from @FTX_Official, FTX US, Alameda Research Ltd. and their directly and indirectly owned subsidiaries.

— FTX (@FTX_Official) November 16, 2022

(3/3) Mr. Bankman-Fried has no ongoing role at @FTX_Official, FTX US, or Alameda Research Ltd. and does not speak on their behalf.

— FTX (@FTX_Official) November 16, 2022

Mr. Ray was emphatic in pointing out that Sam Bankman-Fried has no current ties with FTX, FTX US, or Alameda Research Ltd. He added that SBF’s opinions are purely his own and in no way represent official company viewpoints.

FTX and SBF Cut Ties

Although extremely succinct, the Twitter thread is important to the company because it is expressly intended to emphasize that the responsibility for any information or value judgment issued by those tweets would lie solely with SBF and not the troubled company.

The thread also notes that Sam Bankman-Fried resigned on November 11, leaving his role on the FTX group of companies and their subsidiaries. By design, this implies that any opinion or action executed by Sam Bankman-Fried subsequent to this date was not performed in his capacity as a representative of the company.

FTX’s position appears to come in reaction to a series of tweets issued by Sam Bankman-Fried, in which he gives his impressions regarding the current state of the company and says that he is doing everything possible to benefit FTX users. Sam Bankman-Fried further elaborates that he is working with regulators and various unidentified teams to ensure the interests of customers —and then investors. The tweets were made after his resignation.

13) My goal—my one goal—is to do right by customers.

I’m contributing what I can to doing so. I’m meeting in-person with regulators and working with the teams to do what we can for customers.

And after that, investors. But first, customers.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 15, 2022

As such, FTX’s position implies that if SBF seeks any capital raising, funding, or bailout of any kind, he could not do so on behalf of FTX, and if he does, he will be subject to serious legal consequences.

Sam Bankman-Fried did not make it clear in his tweets what he was doing to try to make amends for his mistake, but in a recent interview, he assured that it was nothing planned. “I don’t know,” he told The New York Times, “I’m improvising. I think it’s time.”

FTT Tries To Hold The $1.5 Support

Despite the bankruptcy proceedings, and the fact that it has lost almost 95% of its value so far this month, FTT —FTX’s native token— still is somewhat alive, refusing to fall below $1.5.

Binance, the exchange that holds most of the token’s trading volume, closed all its trading pairs except for BUSD, its native stablecoin.

FTX’s Sam Bankman Fried, and Binance’s CZ, were called to a hearing with U.S. regulators to explain the chain of events that led to the FTX debacle. Cryptopotato will follow events as they unfold.