On Friday, voices rose across the cryptocurrency community celebrating the fraud conviction of former industry darling Sam Bankman-Fried, hoping to start a new chapter without illusions.
• Also read: Cryptocurrencies: Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all charges
“This ruling should hopefully mark the end of a dark period for our industry,” commented X (ex-Twitter), Yat Siu, president of Animoca Brands, video game publisher and investor in projects related to blockchain, the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies .
A New York jury found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty Thursday of seven counts against him, primarily fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering.
“SBF” used customer funds deposited on its cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX without their knowledge to promote risky investments and transactions by its investment company Alameda Research.
Alameda will have withdrawn up to $14 billion from FTX users, who noticed $8 billion missing at the time of the platform’s bankruptcy in November 2022.
His verdict is scheduled to be announced on March 28, 2024. He faces more than 100 years in prison.
“This unanimous ruling confirms what we already knew: that SBF deceived many people, customers, employees, partners and investors, including me and Sequoia,” commented Alfred Lin, partner at the latter, one of the most renowned private equity firms in Silicon Valley.
Thursday’s decision “means Bitcoin has gotten rid of a new dead weight.” That’s a good thing. (…) Let’s move on,” responded to X Jeff Ross, founder of Vailshire Capital Management, a company that invests particularly in cryptocurrencies on behalf of its clients.
The FTX implosion interrupted a sequence that began in the spring of 2022 and was marked by the collapse of a number of cryptocurrency-related companies and platforms.
During this period, the value of Bitcoin tripled (-67%) between the end of March and the end of November 2022. The queen of digital currencies took almost a year to recover and has only regained momentum in recent weeks.
“This is not a day for celebration,” said Hayden Adams, founder of Uniswap, a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange platform.
“Billions of dollars belonging to (FTX) users were lost and our industry’s reputation suffered major damage,” he argued. “The only winners were a few law firms and crypto opponents.”
“Private equity, which has entrusted hundreds of millions of dollars to SBF, declares victory following this ruling,” wrote Nick Tomaino of investment firm 1confirmation, who noted the “horrific” lack of judgment in a sector and “the greed that has taken hold.” , denounced them in this massive fraud”.
“Our industry must do better in the next cycle,” demanded Hayden Adams. “Focus on technology and our values, recognize the warning signs, and avoid sociopaths and their cult of personality.”