EP69 The Rise and Fall of FTX

In this episode, we cover the rapid rise and stunning fall of crypto darling, FTX. Sam Bankman-Fried and his firm FTX provide us with a number of incredible INVERT lessons, such as never installing a board or CFO, hiring anyone who walks through the front door, spending hundreds of millions on sports marketing in a non-core market, and lacking all forms of accountability. We discuss how the internal controls within FTX ran counter to the company's external perception, as tons of VCs and celebs wanted to get in on the action even when they didn't know what was going on under the hood. When crypto prices plummeted in late 2022, SBF tried to be a messiah in the industry, going around and saving multiple failing enterprises, but we quickly realized FTX may not be on stable footing themselves. We hope you enjoy this one!

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Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon - Michael Lewis

John Ray Testimony Highlights - WSJ

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Recommendation of the Week: Funny skit song Cop Cuties

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The Web of Ideas: Going Infinite (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

2:56 - An unconventional childhood

8:04 - Optimizing for effective altruism

16:20 - Alameda Research... a vessel to save some vast number of lives?

23:19 - Capilizing on crypto's speculative frenzy

30:14 - "No experience necessary"

33:45 - Investor FOMO

37:02 - One giant dragon's liar of Alameda & FTX assets

40:31 - You can an endorsement deal! You get an endorsement deal!

48:00 - A complete absense of checks and balances

49:52 - Unlimited funds or unlimited customer deposits?

57:15 - But we didn't have criminal intent!

1:00:41 - Alameda's special privileges

1:02:41 - Bankruptcy...