Sam Bankman-Fried, the young billionaire who wants to donate his fortune The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange platform wants to donate much of what he has earned to altruistic causes. Do you already know his story?
By Eduardo Scheffler Zawadzki Edited by Eduardo Scheffler Zawadzki
This article was translated from our Spanish edition.
His name is Sam Bankman-Fried and at 30 years old he is already a billionaire. Forbes magazine has valued his fortune at $24 million dollars that he has generated thanks to FTX Trading Limited , one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world in which users can easily make transactions in various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. In addition, the young businessman has something that makes him special: he says that he will donate (almost) his entire fortune to altruistic causes.
WHO IS SAM BANKMAN FRIED?
Sam Bankman-Fried was born in Stanford, California, on March 6, 1992. His parents were law professors at the university and from an early age he was interested in utilitarianism , a philosophy that states that the best action is the one that produces the greatest happiness. in a greater number of possible individuals, in addition to maximizing utility.
He studied physics and mathematics at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where he graduated in 2014. His first job was in 2013 at Jane Street Capital, an exchange-traded investment fund (ETF) company where he stayed until 2017 After briefly working as the director of a non-profit organization called the Center for Effective Altruism, the young man began to get involved with cryptocurrency investments and in 2017 founded Alameda Research his first company, although he himself has said that he had no idea about it. How did digital currencies work? Within a few months of founding Alameda Research, it was already moving more than 25 million bitcoins a day. In April 2019, Bankman-Fried founded FTX , a company that currently performs more than 1 billion transactions every day and has helped him amass his fortune in a very short time. The company grew rapidly thanks to the investment of funds by various venture capital firms such as SoftBank and Pantera Capital.
On more than one occasion Bankman-Fried has stated that cryptocurrency is not a business he has much faith in and that he would stop investing in it if he found other options that were more convenient for him. Currently the young man rubs shoulders with great celebrities and FTX has a wide presence in digital sports events and leagues, in addition to being a sponsor of teams from various professional leagues such as the Golden State Warriors of the NBA or Mercedes in Formula 1. It recently acquired the rights to name the stadium of the Miami Heat for the next 17 years, it spent $30 million to produce and broadcast a Super Bowl spot starring comedian Larry David and hired Tom Brady and Stephen Curry as brand ambassadors.
AND THE DONATIONS FOR WHEN?
Bankman-Fried's philosophy is as follows: he will donate his entire fortune to altruistic causes except for the 1% that allows him to live comfortably. He doesn't like frills (he drives a Toyota Corolla), and in a recent interview with Bloomberg , he commented: "By spending money too soon you run out of really effective ways to make yourself happier. I don't want a yacht."
The reality is that to date the young billionaire has only donated 0.1% of his fortune (approximately $25 million) and so far could be described as one of the least charitable billionaires. When questioned about this, Bankman-Fried defends himself by saying that he sees donations as a long-term goal.
Donations or no donations, Bankman-Fried is one of the definitive players in the crypto world.
