Michael Hiltzik: A cryptocurrency billionaire implodes, showing that the whole field is built on quicksand

For a while there, Sam Bankman-Fried looked like the real thing.

Now 30, the MIT graduate had become the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s most visible and credible billionaire, with a fortune estimated at more than $26 billion at its peak.

Bankman-Fried looked like a political kingmaker, contributing nearly $900,000 to the Democratic National Committee in May 2022 alone.

He portrayed himself as a philanthropy-minded plutocrat, committing himself to donating 99% of his wealth to good causes and donating more than $100 million this year “to alleviate global poverty,” provide assistance to poor countries fighting the pandemic and fighting global warming, as he told a House committee in May.

His Bahamas-based company, FTX, was financially backed by major institutional and venture investors such as BlackRock, SoftBank and Sequoia Capital.

FTX bought the naming rights to the NBA Miami Heat’s home arena; to employ NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his then-wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, as spokespersons;