Forbes: A Review of SBF's Asset Status

Compiled by: Qianwen, ChainCatcher

What is SBF's net worth? A year ago, according to Forbes, SBF's net worth was as high as $26.5 billion. A week ago, it was $17.1 billion. Now, it may be less than $1 billion—estimated to be so low that even he himself cannot dispute it.

In response to Forbes' plan to remove him from the list of the world's billionaires, he replied via email—undoubtedly one of the least important messages he received today—breaking his silence with what may be the first recorded comment in the past 24 hours, stating, "I'm not particularly clear either, but I certainly can't dispute it, and if new information comes up, it will be updated later…"

Many are waiting for news from Bankman-Fried, who, like a legend, quickly gained fame and fortune—within just five years, he went from an obscure ETF trader to a billionaire and political powerhouse in the cryptocurrency world, with a net worth reaching billions—only to see it all vanish. In just a few days, he almost lost all his wealth, becoming one of the fastest billionaires to lose wealth in history.

The timeline began a week ago when CoinDesk published a report stating that Bankman-Fried's trading firm Alameda Research had at least $5.8 billion in assets tied to the FTT tokens issued by his cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Subsequently, its top competitor Binance announced it would liquidate all FTT tokens. By Tuesday, customers were withdrawing funds, Bankman-Fried halted withdrawals from the exchange, and announced that FTX had reached an agreement to be acquired by Binance.

However, a day later, those rescue measures disappeared. Binance tweeted that it was backing out, citing "the company is under due diligence, mishandling of customer funds, and alleged investigations by U.S. authorities." Reportedly, Bankman-Fried is now trying to raise emergency funds, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the gap to be filled after customer withdrawals is as high as $8 billion.

How Bankman-Fried led this cryptocurrency giant to its downfall and how it might be saved remains unclear. But at this stage, one thing is clear—Bankman-Fried has lost billions in funds.

On Wednesday night, venture capital firm Sequoia revalued its investment in FTX to zero. Given the company's collapse, Forbes also marked Bankman-Fried's stake in the company as worth zero. We also estimate that his 90% stake in Alameda is also worth zero. Without these two assets, Bankman-Fried—who told Forbes earlier this year that he had only six figures in his bank account—likely is no longer a billionaire.

On Thursday morning, Bankman-Fried posted on Twitter apologizing and promising to "take responsibility and do my best" to "be accountable to users, investors, and his employees." Alameda is winding down trading, he said, "If FTX survives, and people don't want me to disappear, then I won't disappear."

Here is an in-depth analysis of Bankman-Fried's wealth status at four key moments over the past 13 months: his company raised funds at a valuation of $25 billion in October 2021, peaked in January 2022, and has since declined following CoinDesk's report, down to now. Forbes provides exclusive details on each of his assets at that time.

FTX

October 21, 2021: $10 billion

January 31, 2022: $12.3 billion

November 1, 2022: $10.3 billion

November 9, 2022: $0

Bankman-Fried launched FTX in Hong Kong in 2019, and it gradually became a leading cryptocurrency derivatives trading exchange until its current collapse. In September 2021, he moved the headquarters to the Bahamas. After FTX's disintegration, no one will bear the losses more than Bankman-Fried. According to the equity structure he provided to Forbes earlier this year, he owned about 50% of FTX, making him the largest shareholder of the company to date.

FTX's valuation peaked in January when it raised $400 million at a valuation of $32 billion from institutions such as Singapore's government-owned investment company Temasek, cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm, Tiger Global Management, and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.

The massive liquidity crunch forced Bankman-Fried to seek rescue from Binance, which was unwilling to acquire FTX at what may have already been the lowest price, ultimately leading FTX to the brink of bankruptcy—making it hard to imagine how much those stocks are worth now. A letter shared by venture capital firm Sequoia on Twitter to its limited partners stated, "It is still unclear the full nature and severity of this risk," explaining the reason for their markdown: "Based on what we currently understand, we are marking our investment to $0."

FTX U.S.

October 21, 2021: N/A

January 31, 2022: $3.7 billion

November 1, 2022: $2.7 billion

November 9, 2022: Unclear

FTX's U.S. operations are independent of the Bahamas-based FTX.com and appear to be in better shape than the main business. On Tuesday, Bankman-Fried stated, "Withdrawals are ongoing and have been ongoing." He added on Twitter that everything is "operating normally." FTX U.S. was not part of the canceled Binance rescue plan. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how the issues at FTX.com will affect this business. Its relationship with Bankman-Fried is also no longer of any use. There should also be no reports of the SEC expanding its ongoing investigation into FTX U.S., which would further entangle the company in uncertainty.

Investors poured into FTX and FTX U.S. in January at a total valuation of $40 billion, at which point FTX U.S. was valued at $8 billion—before the full onset of the cryptocurrency winter. Whether he will leave with shares of FTX U.S.—and whether it will have any value—remains unknown.

ALAMEDA RESEARCH

October 21, 2021: $17.8 billion

January 31, 2022: $9.2 billion

November 1, 2022: $5.4 billion

November 9, 2022: $0

Another major business of Bankman-Fried is his trading firm and market maker Alameda Research, through which he holds investments in various cryptocurrencies. According to a spreadsheet he shared with Forbes, as of August, Bankman-Fried owned about 176 million FTT tokens—a cryptocurrency created by FTX that offers holders benefits such as lower trading fees on its exchange—along with holding over $1 billion worth of Solana and Serum tokens through Alameda.

Given the close relationship between Alameda and FTX, reports indicated that it attempted to sell assets earlier this week to support the FTT price but failed. Therefore, Forbes marked Alameda's entire portfolio as zero.

According to CoinDesk's report, the trading firm's balance sheet showed $14.6 billion in assets as of June 30, with at least $5.8 billion related to FTT. This portion of assets was collateralized against $8 billion in loans. Since then, the value of FTT has plummeted, dropping nearly 90% by Wednesday night, with each token falling from nearly $25 to less than $2.50. This drop alone would render most of Alameda's equity worthless. Solana and Serum have also declined, each dropping by over 50%.

It remains unclear whether Alameda's liabilities have increased in the months since June 30, whether it will face margin calls that force asset liquidations at low prices, or whether large amounts of assets have already been transferred to FTX or other entities. On Tuesday, the Alameda website indicated that the company had been privatized. On Thursday, Bankman-Fried stated that it was gradually ceasing trading.

Other Assets

Bankman-Fried seems to have little substantial wealth outside of his main business (though he may have quietly withdrawn funds over the years). He claimed to own a house in Forbes' survey earlier this year, but it is well known in FTX's offices that he prefers to sleep on bean bags and has publicly stated that he would not accumulate significant wealth.

Instead, he claims to engage in business activities solely to make money to donate to charities. Bankman-Fried is a believer in effective altruism, a Silicon Valley-style philanthropy that aims to do as much good as possible. He told Forbes in August that he and FTX co-founder Gary Wang (who is also no longer a billionaire) have donated "possibly over $100 million" to charity to date.

This suggests that he has at least withdrawn some funds from FTX or, more likely, from the privately held Alameda company. His significant political contributions also reflect this. In recent years, Bankman-Fried invested nearly $40 million in left-leaning causes during the 2022 midterm elections—making him the second-largest billionaire donor to Democratic causes.

These expenditures now seem unwise, as FTX's customers are waiting for news regarding whether they will get their investments back. In a leaked letter to shareholders on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried stated that his first priority was to protect "customers and the industry," followed by his investors. As a result, people are lining up anxiously, waiting to reclaim their money from SBF.