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20) I was on the cover of every magazine, and FTX was the darling of Silicon Valley. We got overconfident and careless.
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21) And problems were brewing. Larger than I realized. [AGAIN THESE NUMBERS ARE APPROXIMATE, TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, ETC.] Leverage built up-- ~$5b of leverage, backed by ~$20b of assets which were.... Well, they had value. FTT had value, in EV! But they had risk.
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22) And that risk was correlated--with the other collateral, and with the platform. And then the crash came. In a few day period, there was a historic crash--over 50% in most correlated assets, with no bid side liquidity. And at the same time there was a run on the bank.
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23) Roughly 25% of customer assets were withdrawn each day--$4b. As it turned out, I was wrong: leverage wasn't ~$5b, it was ~$13b. $13b leverage, total run on the bank, total collapse in asset value, all at once. Which is why you don't want that leverage. ---
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25) Last night I talked to a friend of mine. They published my messages. Those were not intended to be public, but I guess they are now.
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26) Well, that gives some color, I guess. It sucks. I'm really sorry that things ended up as they did. And as I said--I'm going to do everything I can to make it more right.
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27) A few thoughts: a) It's *really* hard to be a regulator. They have an impossible job: to regulate entire industries that grow faster than their mandate allows them to. And so often they end up mostly unable to police as well as they ideally would.
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28) Even so, there are regulators who have deeply impressed me with their knowledge and thoughtfulness. The CFTC has; the SCB, and VARA, too. And others, scattered. But most are overwhelmed.
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29) Which means that interacting with regulatory structures can be really frustrating: a *huge* amount of work--much of it arbitrary--and relatively little customer protection. Fuck that. You all deserve frameworks that let regulators protect customers while allowing freedom.
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31) And in the future, I'm going to care less about the dumb, contentless, "good actor" framework. What matters is what you do--is *actually* doing good or bad, not just *talking* about doing good or *using ESG language*.
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32) Anyway -- none of that matters now. What matters is doing the best I can. And doing everything I can for FTX's customers.
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Replying to
Get “Owning your Shadow” by Robert A. Johnson. Read it, practice it. That way you should cease being a danger to your environment. Your unconscious craves attention, you built up a massive shadow due to a dry analytic career as well as unhealthy one sided morals. Get the book.
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Nothing leaks and if it does you clearly let it leak. It is in your head and it comes to your voice and out you mouth. YOU are responsible. Nothing insane about YOU
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