Founder of prominent Bahamian crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried is the one with an influential image within the space. His statements and opinions are being heard by his followers and people. Given his popularity, his political stance also remains a point of discussion.
In May 2022, SBF joined a popular podcast “What’s Your Problem” where he made a statement which had enough potential to ignite a discussion around his political will. He said that he can spend 100 million USD to 1 billion USD in the upcoming presidential election in the United States in 2024.
However, in a recent interview, Freid said the statement as a “dumb quote.” He said that according to him in some cases, the messaging of his statement was somewhat sloppy and inconsistent.
On the flip side, a recent report suggested that FTX CEO spent approx 40 million USD for the sake of funding political action committees and runup campaigns for the midterm elections this year. The report highlighted that most of this money is dedicated to go towards the candidates of Democratic party.
In addition to this, SBD is said to be the impetus behind the Protect Our Future PAC group which reported to raise over 28 million USD by the time. Given the influence, the group is said to be a driving force while playing an influential role in upcoming elections of the House.
In the interview, Bankman–Fried said to put a break on his spending for the political campaigns. He said while giving a message to the votest, there comes a point where someone can not do a lot more. Someone can spend more time, messaging, funding or anything else possible, but yet there might not be something to achieve, he added.
Keeping the political fundings aside, SBF actively spent a lot of capital for many crypto assets as well as crypto firms, given their embattling situation given the heavy market downturn due to crypto winter. His fundings bailed out a lot of firms struggling due to the cash crunch. Even by now, FTX has plans to spend another 1 billion USD as per the reports.
At some point, it was rumored that SBF offered help to centibillionaire Elon Musk with his Twitter takeover deal. It was said that he was ready to avail up to 8 billion USD to Musk for Twitter buyout. However, later the reports proved the claims to be wrong.
Crypto and politics also find their way around the discussion of crypto regulation. Several financial regulators within the United States and politicians were seen to show their keen interest towards making policies for cryptocurrencies. In recent months, the trend was more visible given the bankruptcies filings and defaults of crypto banks which resulted in degrading the trust of people and investors within the crypto assets.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/10/15/sam-bankman-fried-on-his-political-statement/