Sam Bankman-Fried is a finance and cryptocurrency entrepreneur who co-founded and was the CEO of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, as well as the crypto trading company Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried was born in California in 1992 to two Stanford Law School professors. He graduated from MIT with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics. After graduating, he worked as an intern at Jane Street Capital, a proprietary trading firm.
In 2017, Bankman-Fried left Jane Street and founded Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm that trades cryptocurrency. In 2019, he founded FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange.
FTX quickly grew to become one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Bankman-Fried was seen as a rising star in the cryptocurrency world, and he was often referred to as the “enfant terrible” of crypto.
However, FTX’s financial problems came to light in November 2022. The company was reportedly facing a liquidity crisis, and it was alleged that Bankman-Fried had been using customer funds to prop up the company.
In November 2022, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO. He was later arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud.
Bankman-Fried’s rise and fall is a cautionary tale about the dangers of cryptocurrency speculation. He is a reminder that even the most successful cryptocurrency entrepreneurs are not immune to financial ruin.
Sam Bankman-Fried Wife/Girlfriend
Caroline Ellison is the CEO of Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm that was founded in September 2017 by her boyfriend, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Ellison is a highly accomplished mathematician. She graduated from North School in 2012, where she won numerous math awards, including placing top 10 at the Harvard MIT math competition and receiving an honorable mention from Math Prize. She then went on to graduate from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2016.
After graduating from Stanford, Ellison worked as a trader on the equities desk at Jane Street Capital. She was persuaded to join Alameda by Bankman-Fried, who also previously worked for Jane Street.
At Alameda, Ellison quickly rose through the ranks. She became a co-CEO in 2021 and the sole CEO in 2022. Under her leadership, Alameda has become one of the most successful cryptocurrency trading firms in the world.