On Crypto, FOMO and "the next big thing"
Last week, bankruptcy details about FTX Group, a crypto platform once valued at over $30 billion, continued to unfold. The following are selected observations on the process.
John J. Ray III, appointed to oversee the FTX bankruptcy, said:
“I have over 40 years of legal and restructuring experience … I have supervised situations involving allegations of criminal activity and malfeasance [including Enron] …
“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here. From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented."
Lawsuits against FTX include its promoters and partners such as comedianLarry David, tennis starNaomi Osaka, NFL starTom Bradyand his supermodel ex-wifeGisele Bundchen,NBA playersSteph CurryandShaquille O'Neil, MLB'sDavid OrtizandShohei Ohtani, and theGolden State Warriors.
The Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County have terminated its FTX Arena naming rights deal, Mercedes has removed FTX logos from its Formula One cars and University of California – Berkeley has removed FTX logos from its football field.
FTX's largest investors included Temasek Holdings, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Other investors included NEA, IVP, Iconiq Capital, Third Point Ventures, Tiger Global, Altimeter Capital Management, Lux Capital, Mayfield, Insight Partners, SoftBank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Ribbit Capital, BlackRock, Thoma Bravo.
FTX Founder Sam Bankman Fried is a 30-year-old MIT graduate with a physics degree. His parents, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman are Stanford Law School professors.
FTX was founded in 2019 in Berkeley, CA, but moved its headquartered to the Bahamas.
Regulators, accountants, lawyers, journalists and others are uncovering many issues and irregularities in the FTX ecosystem.
Chart 1: FTX Investment Ecosystem (by CBInsights)
OUR TAKE
FTX sought to leverage fintech innovation, but FTX's demise is a result of its hubris,operational incompetence and material misrepresentations (with courts determining if the misrepresentations were innocent, negligent, or fraudulent.)
Blockchains, cryptocurrencies and digital assets are technologies. They may be part of "the next big thing", but providing sustainable value requires the trust and integrity of developers and users.
Fintech efforts by start-ups, legacy financial services players, governments and investors will take a more cautious approach, rather than be driven by the fear of missing out (FOMO). Market participants should expect 1) more comprehensive due diligence and 2) more regulatory oversight.