ZoneBitcoin EditorialA case is currently shaking the cryptosphere. YouTuber BitBoy Crypto (aka Ben Armstrong) who has more than 500,000 subscribers officially accuses Sam Bankman Fried of being "a criminal" and of seeking to "destroy" the cryptocurrency industry.
The main accused is Sam Bankman Fried, the founder and CEO of the trading platform FTX. Ben Armstrong's accusatory remarks shake the cryptosphere to its core. Indeed, the founder of FTX is often described as a "philanthropic entrepreneur". It is even the essential ingredient in the story-telling of this young entrepreneur who became almost a billionaire overnight thanks to his trading platform.
Since then, his stature as a successful entrepreneur has been somewhat tainted with these accusations being made by a range of people now.
Is Sam Bankman Fried who he is trying to make us believe? Is he a modern-day JP Morgan with hidden agendas? And should the crypto space fear his actions?
We conducted our little investigation to try to answer these questions.
The criticisms made of Sam Bankman-Fried
According to BitBoy Crypto's latest video, Sam Bankman Fried is a "criminal" who wants to "ruin the world of cryptocurrencies". According to Bitboy Crypto's claims, SBF is guilty of 4 counts of indictment, to use terms specific to the legal world.
The bribes
SBF is known for its proximity to politicians of all stripes. His political contributions amount to millions of dollars. He was even the second donor to the presidential campaign supporting Biden after Bloomberg! He is very active on the political scene through his donations. It is then a way (this is what his opponents accuse him of) of buying politicians to join his cause.
The first accusation is based on the fact that SBF finances politicians or prominent members of institutional finance. For example, former SEC director Willian Hinman is suspected of having accepted bribes from SBF. This remains an accusation and there is no official investigation (presumably) into the matter.
The desire to create a monopoly
This accusation was made after SBF claimed that it wanted to acquire the company Coinbase. This is not the first time that SBF has stated that they are interested in acquiring players in the crypto industry. It is even – probably – the fact that his acquisitions are numerous which is virulently pointed out by Ben Armstrong. The latter accuses SBF of wanting to control the entire crypto space. These company buyouts being only a way of creating ultimately a monopoly of FTX.
SBF created FTX in 2019 and became a crypto industry tycoon in just 4 years. Since then, he has made several business acquisitions. Today, he owns shares and manages more than a dozen recognized crypto companies. According to the site Crunchbase, FTX Ventures owns stakes in more than 48 companies, including trading app Robinhood (up to 7%), the blockf, SkyBridge Capital, Alemena Research and Bithumb.
His interest does not stop at the contours of crypto companies. For example, he expressed his desire to also invest in Twitter when the acquisition was announced of the platform by Elon Musk. Through its actions, SBF does not hide its desire to increase its empire.
The quest for regulation
On October 20, 2022, SBF published its proposals regulatory to create a legal framework for the cryptocurrency sector in the USA. He then proposes that the industry be under the control of OFAC (Office Of Foreign Assets Control) which is responsible for establishing economic sanctions on companies. With this in mind, SBF has proposed creating a federal "BitLicence" which would be a sort of legal framework for crypto companies. However, Ben Armosntrong criticizes the fact that this license would, in reality, prohibit decentralized and peer-to-peer transactions in the USA.
It is since the announcement of the creation of this crypto license that criticism has crystallized around SBF.
For a large part of the crypto community, this license would be a pure disaster for the use of cryptocurrencies. This even goes against the libertarian trend (see CypherPunk) of the philosophy of cryptocurrency. Thus, SBF is accused of acting like a hypocrite, to the extent that it took advantage of the lack of jurisdiction to create an empire for itself. And, now that he has a golden seat in the ecosystem, he would like to make it more complex to prevent new players from arriving...from competing with him...
Many articles have also "criticized" the behavior of SBF, including the newspaper Rekt which portrays him as being pro-regulation.
Since then, SBF's notoriety has deteriorated further. However, he remains a genius entrepreneur for people who enter this universe without necessarily knowing the philosophy and ethics attached to it. Likewise, some people will simply use the FTX platform without worrying about the morals of its founder…
However, since this affair, many people have since withdrawn their funds from FTX.
Accusations of market manipulation
This is certainly the most serious accusation against SBF. When you own so many companies that are correlated with each other, this can pose ethical problems. There can be insider trading, for example, when investing in projects (as an investor) and even listing them on an exchange platform. Moreover, SBF was taken to court for having managed RICO companies (
The conflict of interest comes from the fact that SBF owns the FTX platform which handles over 10% of crypto derivatives trading. However, it also owns the company Alameda Research which is a “quantitative cryptocurrency trading company”. This means that SBF can both trade on margin with FTX and at the same time be a market maker with Alameda. It can then see the order books, have huge quantities to trade and can then liquidate traders (especially retail traders) very easily.
He is also very often accused of generating large liquidations on the market, to his own advantage. As we can read in the article by BeinCrypto, the global crypto market pump liquidated shorts worth $1 billion. Around 82% of this amount was liquidated by the FTX exchange…
BitBoy Crypto accuses SBF of massively selling SOL (Solana) cryptos for example. provides “evidence” with graphics where we can see drastic drops in the price of Solana. The asset was allegedly sold massively by early investors who are part of the FTX Venture conglomerate.
Now, SBF has stated that it is working on creating its own stablecoin. An idea very consistent with his desire to play Monopoly in real life.
The modern-day “robber baron”?
The CEO of the FTX platform may resemble the robber barons of our contemporary era in many ways. Each time a company encounters financial difficulties, SBF strives to buy it back or own significant shares in it.
In official statements, he says he is doing it for the right reason, to avoid a market collapse. SBF has repeatedly said it feels a certain "responsibility" to mitigate losses and avoid a devastating "contagion" for the sector.
Behind these good intentions, some see rather an indirect search to enlarge its monopoly. After all, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and SBF could very well take advantage of this by seeking to help companies in difficulty to increase its power.
Here it may remind us of a historical fact when JP Morgan (a leading banker at that time) intervened twice to save the banks (the Federal Treasury and a collective of financial institutions) with its own capital. For some historians, Morgan's actions lessened the impact of an economic recession. For others, it was nothing more than a clever manipulation to expand his empire.
So, when SBF runs to the rescue of failing companies as it did with BlockFi (with a debt of 250 million dollars) or with the company Voyager Digital which almost went bankrupt, the parallel with JP Morgan was inevitable.
Likewise, whatever one thinks about it, these various aids to companies in difficulty, whether they are purely "altruistic", are also an extraordinary way for SBF to acquire crypto companies with millions of users...
💼 The term “ robber baron " is a pejorative expression that refers to certain powerful businessmen in the United States in the 19th century. They were industrialists who flourished during the golden age known as the "Gilded Age" (1865-1901). Some are accused of having practiced "savage capitalism" to exploit and corrupt people or markets for their personal interests. Among the best known robber barons are John D. Rockefeller, JP Morgan or even Cornelius Vanderbilt.
It was after the surge of assistance from JP Morgan that progressive politicians (led by the pujo Committee) pushed the idea of creating the Fed. Politicians then feared that JP Morgan could influence the markets to its advantage.
Moreover, SBF also seems particularly close to regulators and politicians…
Is SBF's altruistic philosophy just a mask?
SBF has never hidden the fact that it is an "altruistic capitalist". This philosophy shared by many people, of which Bill Gates is the most famous representative, consists of wanting to generate as much profit as possible with the aim of redistributing it. Thus, SBF announced that it would bequeath almost all of its fortune to associations.
Moreover, we can recall that he worked for the » Center For Effective Altruism " which embraces the ideas of the utilitarian thought of Australian philosopher Peter Singer. This current of thought pushes for a mathematical rationalization of individual actions. Thus, the supporters of this school of thought and of Effective Altruism make generosity an ultimate act.
Bill Gates is the most famous representative. Usually, these are wealthy entrepreneurs who are known for their charitable deeds around the world. For example, Bill Gates decided to dedicate a huge percentage of his fortune to his humanitarian foundation "Bill and Melinda Gates".
We learn from the newspaper Coingeek, that "the amount that SBF gives away amounts to approximately 1 to 3% of its total wealth." This is not much and is equivalent to what it generates in monthly profit thanks to "trading fees and by negotiating through Alameda."
So, would Sam Bankman-Fried act in opposition to the values of altruism that he displays? Is it simply a mask to deceive his greed? After all, is he not just an ordinary entrepreneur of his generation who is no more angelic than anyone else?
Who is BitBoy Crypto?
Bitboy Crypto said in a video that he wanted to fight to save the world of cryptocurrencies. He then said in this regard that he "represented the people" and that he would continue to fight against the "institutional tie" that they want to destroy the ecosystem. He claims to be the only visible personality with the courage to "openly denounce the excesses of SBF" and his acolytes.
He is indeed the only one to speak out on this subject in such a frank manner. Few YouTubers (if any) have had the courage to address the issue as openly as Ben Armonstrong. He says he represents the interest of the "people", opposed to the "robber barons" of crypto.
His representation has nevertheless sparked a real controversy on the web because many people deny the fact that they can be represented by BitBoy crypto. The latter accuse him of being an influencer who monetizes excessively with paid partnerships. The price of his campaigns has been revealed and can rise to $40,000 for a single video. Therefore, due to his 5-figure income, he could not reasonably represent "the people". However, he is not the only one in this case, it is known and admitted that YouTubers are paid very dearly to promote crypto projects.
Now it’s up to everyone to choose their side…
You can see the video version of this article:
Resources to go further:
- https://coinedition.com/bitboy-calls-sbf-criminal-as-duos-rivalry-flow-through-tweets/
- https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/06/21/is-sam-bankman-fried-a-modern-day-robber-baron/
- https://rekt.news/sbf-regulator/
- https://coingeek.com/ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-isnt-who-you-think-he-is/
- https://protos.com/heres-why-sam-bankman-fried-is-not-the-jp-morgan-of-crypto/
- https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/tendance-altruistes-efficaces-ces-riches-qui-cherchent-la-formule-de-la-charite-parfaite
Note: No financial advice is given in this or any other article on zonebitcoin. This is information of which you are the sole judge and master. Be responsible with your investments and only invest as much as you are willing to lose.
Our affiliate links:
Buy cryptocurrencies (the easy way):
Generate interest on your cryptocurrencies:
Secure your cryptocurrencies:
To have fun and play
- The best for Esport and bitcoin sports betting : CloudBet
- Discover the bitcoin casinos
