Sam Bankman-Fried is pushing back on what he calls widespread misconceptions about FTX’s collapse, arguing the exchange faced a liquidity crisis rather than insolvency or fraud.
‘FTX Was Not Insolvent’
Sam Bankman-Fried contended on X on Friday that FTX was solvent at the time of its bankruptcy filing and that customer funds did not permanently disappear.
He claimed the company is now repaying customers between 119% and 143% of their claims.
According to Bankman-Fried, FTX could have repaid customers in kind but was pushed into bankruptcy too quickly.
He alleges that legal fees totalling roughly $1 billion have drained the estate as lawyers dismantled the company and managed the repayment process.
Bankman-Fried also said his personal spending and political donations came from legitimate earnings and were modest relative to FTX’s overall scale.
‘No Secret Backdoor’
Bankman-Fried said FTX operated as a margin exchange in which customers, including Alameda Research, could opt into lending and borrowing through a shared collateral pool.
He argued the platform was not designed to always be fully liquid, as most assets were part of a lending program by design.
He denied creating a secret “backdoor” to siphon funds, saying account features had legitimate purposes and were not used to allow Alameda to borrow improperly.
Bankman-Fried further claimed the narrative around FTX was shaped by the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden and by bankruptcy administrators after they took control of the company’s records and communications.
Addressing political rumours, he said that by late 2022 he had shifted political donations toward Republicans and was contributing more to the right than the left.
He dismissed broader conspiracy theories involving campaign contributions, Ukraine and other claims, stating that his private political donations at the time were directed to Republican candidates.
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