In November 2022, the crypto world experienced its Lehman Brothers moment. FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange valued at $32 billion just months earlier, imploded in the span of about 72 hours.
What started as a tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao about selling FTX's native token turned into a bank run that FTX couldn't survive. Within days, the company filed for bankruptcy. Billions in customer funds had vanished.
Sam Bankman-Fried
The founder of FTX — known universally as SBF — had been celebrated as a crypto wunderkind and philanthropist. He was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022 and extradited to the United States. In November 2023, he was convicted on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
The Broader Impact
The FTX collapse wiped out billions in savings for ordinary investors. It triggered a brutal crypto winter and forced serious conversations about regulation in the digital asset space.
It's a reminder that when something seems too good to be true — it usually is. In business and in life.