10 Things You Didn't Know About Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried is a businessman and entrepreneur. Mr. Fried is the chief executive officer of FTX and Alameda Research. He has an interesting history in the financial industry. After gaining experience working for other companies, he founded his successful crypto trading firm. Here are 10 things you didn't know about Sam Bankman-Fried that you may find interesting.

1. Sam Bankman-Fried is the founder of Alameda Research

The company currently manages assets valued at $2.5 billion. He has come a long way in his career. Sam has built a successful business that took off quickly and became quite prosperous in less than 2 years from the date of its establishment. Alameda Research was founded in April of 2019, according to LinkedIn.

2. He set up FTX in Hong Kong as a new crypto derivative

Bankman-Fried established Alameda Research company in Hong Kong. The company is a crypto currency derivatives exchange. Sam helped in the creation of Serum, aka SRM which is a crypto coin on which the FTX platform is based. Most of the assets managed by Alameda Research are from the platform's Serum coin, crypto currency.

3. Sam Bankman-Fried is an MIT Alum

Bankman-Fried was accepted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. While attending the program he studied physics. He graduated with his degree in the discipline in 2014.

4. Sam started as a trader on Wall Street

After graduating with a degree in physics from MIT, Sam Bankman-Fried embarked on his professional carer. He went to New York and landed a job as a trader with Jane Street in June of 2014. He spent 3 years and 4 months with the firm, before leaving in September of 2017. He learned a lot about financial analytics and trading during his time with Jane Street.

5. He worked at The Centre for Effective Altruism

In October of 2017, Sam joined the Centre for Effective Altruism. He was hired as the Director of Development. He only spent 2 months in the position, leaving in November of 2017. This company is based in Oxford, Oxfordshire, Great Britain. The organization is a charity that works for the benefit of the global EA movement to combine reason, evidence, and empathy. It calls for people to consider their values and work together as a team to do good and find the best ways to achieve goals for doing good toward others. It's a nonprofit organization that has been in operation since 2009. He left his directorship and immediately launched Alameda Research.

6. FTX has been successful in raising venture capital

According to Forbes, FTX entered into several rounds of venture capital funding. The most recent round raised $40 million from investors with high confidence in the platform. The most recent round of fundraising brought FTX to a valuation of $1.2 billion. This qualifies the company as a unicorn, which is an elite group of businesses that reach a value of at least $1 million or more. Remarkably, this business has grown so wealthy in less than two years after it was initially launched. The revenues over the past year are about $100 million and the company already achieves a $30 million per year profitability. Most new startups are not profitable for the first several years.

7. Sam Bankman-Fried is a very wealthy man

FTX has been good to Sam. Although some portions of the company are owned by its investors, he has retained an estimated fifty percent of the business. This amounts to revenue of about $50 million. He adds to his net personal wealth every year. This makes Sam Bankman-Fried a very wealthy man.

8. Forbes acknowledges his success

We also learned that Mr. Bankman-Fried is under 30 years old. The more we learn about him the more we realize that his achievements in the business world are nothing short of astronomical. He is listed on the prestigious Forbes list of 30 under 30 in finance. This is a list that formally recognizes the achievements of young entrepreneurs and business people who have attained a high level of success before reaching the age of 30 years.

9. Sam is a self-made billionaire

According to Yahoo Sports, Sam Bankman-Fried earned an incredible fortune in just 3.5 years by trading crypto currency. When asked how he became so successful, the former ETF trader from Jane Street explained that he achieved success from arbitrage opportunities available in the crypto market. It has been reported that he has a net worth of $9 billion. His business manages digital assets with large-scale trades. he was a multi-billionaire when he turned 29 years of age. FTX is a crypto currency exchange through which Alameda Research makes some of its biggest profits.

10. Sam Bankman-Fried is a humanitarian and philanthropist

According to 8000 Hours, Sam Bankman-Fried is not your average billionaire. He is a unique personality who has a deep and genuine concern for the state of humanity. The Centre for Effective Altruism is an organization that changed his life. Although he was only employed there for 2 months he learned the importance of giving to have a positive impact on the world around us and our fellow man. One of his life goals is to donate funds to help provide safeguards for the long-term future of mankind. He shared in an interview that he plans to donate the majority of his wealth to organizations that help to further this cause. He believes that funneling funding into worthwhile and impactful organizations he is doing his part. He doesn't feel the need to be the person actively involved in effecting change, but he does feel strongly that providing the funds to help worthy organizations make a difference toward the betterment of the world, is enough. He is a very giving and humanitarian soul who is in a good position to help others make a difference.