By now Sam Bankman-Fried is a household name

By now Sam Bankman-Fried is a household name. SBF, once coined the ‘JP Morgan of Crypto’ by CNBC’s carnival barker prince, lost billions in customer funds while propping up his insolvent degen friends at Alameda Research. The ‘JP Morgan of Crypto?’ Nah. More like the ‘Bernie Madoff of Crypto.’

Like I said recently, I’m sick of looking at this guy’s face. Ultimately, it will almost certainly be up to the courts to determine Sam’s fate. Until then, SBF still hasn’t been charged with any crime and is free to galivant in the Bahamas with his partner-in-crime ex-girlfriend and his imaginary friend co-founder Gary Wang if they all still desire each other’s company.

Meanwhile, In The Netherlands

There is another ‘crypto criminal’ out of US jurisdiction who is getting a very different kind of treatment. Alexey Pertsev wrote code for the Tornado Cash crypto mixer. Like Sam, Alexey had not been formally charged with a crime - that finally changed yesterday. However, unlike Sam, Alexey Pertsev has already spent 3 months in a Dutch jail  official charges because Tornado Cash can be used for money laundering.

Pertsev isn’t necessarily being accused of doing the money laundering himself, he just apparently must be held accountable in the Netherlands for somebody else’s alleged activities in North Korea that regulators in America don’t like. This would be akin to arresting Pierre Omidyar in France because Mexican drug cartels can use Juan Uribe baseball cards on eBay to launder money; which is to say it’s asinine.

No matter. Alexey is in jail and will probably remain there for a long time.

Surely Sam Will Get His Comeuppance… Right?

While I’ve been generally bothered by a lot of the coverage of SBF from the legacy newspapers, the latest instance of Sam getting a platform is somewhat beyond comprehension to me. Last week, the New York Times published what is now a fairly infamous article detailing the ordeal from Sam’s perspective; seemingly giving him a pass for trying to build a company too fast and being motivated to craft legislation for his industry: 

When he was told that he was overextended and was encouraged to hire more employees, he resisted the suggestions. And in Washington, he was pushing an ambitious regulatory agenda

The article spent almost no time on how Sam lost customer funds and instead detailed how busy he had been, how he has been sleeping well since the collapse, and playing video games to unwind. From where I sit, the claim that the article was a puff-piece hits the mark. Then there was the bizarre comparison to Trump in a WSJ opinion piece a few days later:

FTX failed because Mr. Bankman-Fried’s supporters lost confidence in him. That may be how Mr. Trump finally crashes and burns too.

Did FTX fail because supporters lost confidence in SBF or did FTX fail because SBF gave FTX customer funds to his buddies so they could gamble it?

Don’t answer that.

Look, I think each of these articles are problematic for different reasons. But neither are as bad as this…

What is Dealbrook Summit? It’s a finance conference for important people with important speakers. From the 

This fall, Andrew Ross Sorkin brings together today’s most vital minds on a single stage, live in the heart of New York City. Be there as the conversation unfolds, revealing hidden complexities, unexpected relationships and the wide-ranging ripple effects of change.

Vital minds. Some of the speakers include Larry Fink, Mark Zuckerberg, Reed Hastings, Janet Yellen, Volodymyr Zelensky, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mike Pence. Pretty important people speaking at this thing.

And Sam. A guy who didn’t even realize he was explaining how yield farming is a Ponzi scheme to Bloomberg earlier this year. Vital minds.

 To be fair, Sam’s appearance at this event was scheduled long before FTX collapsed. My first question is why is he still getting the platform? Sam is very likely a criminal and has already been quoted in the New York Times and Vox to give his side of what happened. My second question is who is giving SBF advice? Does he not have an attorney telling him to STFU?

Andrew Ross Sorkin, a CNBC contributor and NYT writer, says nothing is off limits. I suppose we’ll find out. But it sure seems insane that Sam Bankman-Fried is sharing a platform with FANG CEOs and Alexey Pertsev is sleeping on a cot in a cell.

This was originally posted to my Substack newsletter of the same name (Heretic Speculator). I appreciate your follows, tips, and shares right here on Publish0x. Seriously, I think this platform is amazing and I'm enjoying reading the work from other writers and analysts as well. Anyway, thanks for reading.