Publications
Publications
- September 2023
- HBS Case Collection
The Rise and Fall of FTX
Abstract
In November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried's multi-billion-dollar crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed, wiping out investors and throwing the crypto industry into disarray. As FTX's founder and CEO, Bankman-Fried developed a reputation for his unerring business sense and high-profile charitable giving. To many, it came as a shock when in the wake of FTX's collapse, the attorney responsible for restructuring the company professed he had never seen "such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization." How had Bankman-Fried managed to hide his malfeasance so well, and for so long? The investigation also raised questions about the people and organizations that enabled Bankman-Fried's wrongdoing. What should regulators have done differently? Were the VC funds that bankrolled FTX partly responsible?
Keywords
Cryptocurrency; Crime and Corruption; Financial Statements; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Failure; Restructuring; United States; Hong Kong; Bahamas
Citation
Dey, Aiyesha, Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli, and Max Hancock. "The Rise and Fall of FTX." Harvard Business School Case 124-014, September 2023.