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>Bankman-Fried says his No. 1 priority now is to try to raise $8 billion to make account holders whole. So, basically start up a new Ponzi. Because that's exa

>Bankman-Fried says his No. 1 priority now is to try to raise $8 billion to make account holders whole. So, basically start up a new Ponzi. Because that's exactly what raising money from new investors to pay off existing investors is. Note he did NOT say "generate $8B in profit". At this point he needs to STFU, stop posting on social media, stop giving interviews in the media, and do whatever his lawyers tell him to.

rosywoozlechan 4y ago
I don't think this is an earnest attempt to help his victims. He must know how ridiculous it is to ask for someone to repay his victims losses with nothing to offer in return. Feels like a legal strategy to mitigate criminal and civil consequences.
anonymoushn 4y ago
To pay off creditors, not investors. The people he owes $8bn did not buy an investment product, they bought claims on dollars for dollars.
expazl 4y ago
Well you see, he wants to take those $8B and put them in a box, then start printing box-tokens that he can lend to his trading arm, then he can build a market for those box tokens giving them intrinsic value, while he siphons the 8B$ off to ... wait, how he's going to make his users whole? Well you see he just needs to raise 16B$ and put them in a box...
HWR_14 4y ago
No, this part isn't a ponzi. He has a lot of crypto and he wants someone to buy it all for $8 billion, so he can return that $8 billion to his customers. He says it's worth $9 billion down from $14 billion two weeks ago, so it's a great deal. Now, I would say it's worth far less, maybe hundreds of millions. This part is "if I firesale all the crypto, can I get enough fiat to pay back my customers so that there's no case for me going to jail because no one lost money, just got stressed out."
- bhouston 4y ago
  I am not sure. If I owe $8B and I raise $8B and then give it to the people whom are owed $8B, what exactly am I giving the investors? Basically he has an $8B hole and let's say everything else nets to zero (e.g. assets - liabilities = -$8B.) No one in their right mind would give $8B to get what is otherwise worth nothing. This is a non-starter, especially now that the brand is also completely tarnished.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    He claims he owes $8B and has $9B in crypto/investments that is just hard to sell right now. That is, he claims assets - liabilities = 1B, but assets_that_can_be_sold_on_the_open_market_before_bankruptcy - liabilities = -8B. If that were true, then someone giving him $8B in cash for the assets, liquidating the assets for $9B (making $1B) over time and all his depositors getting their cash is good for everyone. This isn't "invest in FTX". This is "buy everything at my going out of business sale for one transaction and make money" Now, I don't think his assets are worth $9B. But if someone out there with the ability to raise $8B thinks so, we'll find out soon.
    - bhouston 4y ago
      I guess you are correct. I give you that. And you are also correct that what he likely is greatly over stating the value of the assets he is holding, which is funny money tokens like FTT, SRM, etc which he is artificially inflating.

rosywoozlechan 4y ago

I don't think this is an earnest attempt to help his victims. He must know how ridiculous it is to ask for someone to repay his victims losses with nothing to offer in return. Feels like a legal strategy to mitigate criminal and civil consequences.

anonymoushn 4y ago

To pay off creditors, not investors. The people he owes $8bn did not buy an investment product, they bought claims on dollars for dollars.

expazl 4y ago

Well you see, he wants to take those $8B and put them in a box, then start printing box-tokens that he can lend to his trading arm, then he can build a market for those box tokens giving them intrinsic value, while he siphons the 8B$ off to ... wait, how he's going to make his users whole? Well you see he just needs to raise 16B$ and put them in a box...

HWR_14 4y ago

No, this part isn't a ponzi. He has a lot of crypto and he wants someone to buy it all for $8 billion, so he can return that $8 billion to his customers. He says it's worth $9 billion down from $14 billion two weeks ago, so it's a great deal. Now, I would say it's worth far less, maybe hundreds of millions. This part is "if I firesale all the crypto, can I get enough fiat to pay back my customers so that there's no case for me going to jail because no one lost money, just got stressed out."

bhouston 4y ago
I am not sure. If I owe $8B and I raise $8B and then give it to the people whom are owed $8B, what exactly am I giving the investors? Basically he has an $8B hole and let's say everything else nets to zero (e.g. assets - liabilities = -$8B.) No one in their right mind would give $8B to get what is otherwise worth nothing. This is a non-starter, especially now that the brand is also completely tarnished.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  He claims he owes $8B and has $9B in crypto/investments that is just hard to sell right now. That is, he claims assets - liabilities = 1B, but assets_that_can_be_sold_on_the_open_market_before_bankruptcy - liabilities = -8B. If that were true, then someone giving him $8B in cash for the assets, liquidating the assets for $9B (making $1B) over time and all his depositors getting their cash is good for everyone. This isn't "invest in FTX". This is "buy everything at my going out of business sale for one transaction and make money" Now, I don't think his assets are worth $9B. But if someone out there with the ability to raise $8B thinks so, we'll find out soon.
  - bhouston 4y ago
    I guess you are correct. I give you that. And you are also correct that what he likely is greatly over stating the value of the assets he is holding, which is funny money tokens like FTT, SRM, etc which he is artificially inflating.