Members of the team running the FTX Future Fund, a philanthropic fund backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, resigned on Thursday. The announcement was made through an open letter that was posted to Twitter by journalist Teddy Schleifer.
In the letter, the group condemned that “the leadership of FTX may have engaged in deception or dishonesty,” pertaining to CEO Bankman-Fried, more commonly referred to as SBF, secretly using FTX customer funds to prop up his ailing trading company, Alameda Research.
The team noted that they “don’t yet have a full picture of what went wrong” and were learning about the developments along with everyone else as they unfold. But what is clear is that they won’t be able to do their job or continue to process grants.
“We are devastated to say that it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor,” the team said. “We are so sorry that it has come to this.”
This is just one of the ripples resulting from the implosion of FTX earlier this week. The company was pretending to be sailing smoothly until Coindesk was able to get its hands on the balance sheet of Alameda Research, and it all went downhill from there.
SBF, who branded himself as a supporter of “effective altruism,” once pledged to give away most of his wealth. FTX had two philanthropic arms. Future Fund gave grants to projects that focused on “long-term improvements for humankind” like biosecurity and A.I. safety. The FTX Foundation, on the other hand, was a charity that supported health, pollution, and climate initiatives.
Information for this briefing was found via Twitter, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
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