FTX's Liquidity Crisis

6min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

FTX was founded by Sam Bankman Freed and CZ, the founder of SBF. He has played an important role in unraveling FTX's fortunes. The exchange lent a huge amount of customers assets to another trading firm called Alameda. That connection with Alameda is something that regulators have been looking into.

At the start of this week, FTX was the world’s third-largest crypto exchange. After rumours of illiquidity swirled, customers pulled $6bn in assets. It now reportedly faces an $8bn shortfall, and the contagion is spreading. The Sama-Bajau have fished the same waters for centuries, but are citizens of nowhere, which makes their hard lives harder. And what Rishi Sunak can learn from his fictional predecessors. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer