Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall

by Zeke Faux

In walked a haughty man with a long, scraggly beard, a potbelly, and mismatched socks, one of them with a Pac-Man design. He was an employee of FTX who’d stuck around to help Bankman-Fried try to find an investor to rescue the exchange. I threw out an easy question. “Why are you still here?” I asked. He started off by saying he wanted to help FTX’s customers. Then, unprompted, he told me that he thought there wasn’t much risk Bankman-Fried would ever get in trouble. “I firmly believe once somebody becomes a certain level of rich, they’re never poor again,” he said. “They don’t go to jail. Nothing bad happens to them.” I tried to keep a straight face as I imagined him telling that to the congressmen and prosecutors investigating FTX. His supercilious attitude and slovenly appearance reminded me of the disagreeable know-it-all Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. His answer was so bad, it felt almost unfair to ask him tough questions. I gave him a second chance to say something nice about Bankman-Fried. “Are there specific things that make you think Sam is honest?” I asked. “Oh, I didn’t say he was honest,” the man said. “Was there a separation between Alameda and FTX?” I asked. “If you were in my position, would you answer that?” he said. By the time the supporter had finished digging the hole as deep as he could, the sun had gone down