A look at the rise and fall of Alameda Research, whose troubles began well before the crypto crash as the firm took big gambles, winning some and losing plenty
Some projects are just better when dead asap. 😥 Tom Gara / @tomgara : Also maybe this is common knowledge but I didn't realize that famous SBF origin story trade in Japan profited less than $30 million total, for some reason I thought it was like this historic all time money printer https://twitter.com/... Caitlin Ostroff / @ceostroff : “We know the owner of Alameda and consider him of the highest reputation in the industry,” Dan Friedberg wrote to one prospective lender to Alameda. He later became FTX's chief regulatory officer. w/@kowsmann, @Vlajournaliste, @GZuckerman, @eliotwb https://www.wsj.com/... Tom Gara / @tomgara : This great piece on how Alameda / FTX actually worked behind the scenes includes an incredible “mistakes were made” quote from a crypto brokerage doing business with FTX https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... @btc_archive : BREAKING: Alameda almost collapsed in 2018 - then FTX was launched and customer funds were used to support Alameda - Wall Street Journal FFS! 🤦♂️ https://twitter.com/... @thecompoundnews : “Sam Bankman-Fried built the cryptocurrency exchange FTX on the reputation of his trading firm, Alameda Research LLC...But a closer look at Alameda shows it never was particularly good at investing.” 🤦 - @WSJ https://www.wsj.com/... JonBovi / @realjonbovi : He was pushing the CFTC to institute a change in margin methodology that he deliberately skirted on his own exchange. Demonstrates what he thinks of the margin methodology. Fraud. Troubles at Sam Bankman-Fried's Alameda Began Well Before Crypto Crash https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... @wsj : Sam Bankman-Fried has said Alameda prospered until it was tripped up in a crypto crash. Its troubles were much deeper than that. https://www.wsj.com/... Ryder Ripps / @ryder_ripps : yuga better find some new lawyers, i wouldnt doubt Fenwick gets disbarred/dissolved by our trial in June. “We know the owner of Alameda and consider him of the highest reputation in the industry,” -Fenwick https://www.wsj.com/... Pauly / @pauly0x : Fenwick & West is the same law firm that is suing @ryder_ripps and I on behalf of YugaLabs. https://twitter.com/... Mark Pulliam / @misruleoflaw : Lawsuits to follow. ""We know the owner of Alameda and consider him of the highest reputation in the industry," Daniel Friedberg wrote on the letterhead of his law firm, Fenwick & West LLP. He later took a job as FTX's chief regulatory officer." https://www.wsj.com/... Eliot Brown / @eliotwb : Always good to have a supportive lawyer on your side deep dive on Alameda - SBF's hedge fund that wasn't so great at hedging https://twitter.com/...
Wall Street Journal
Context & Ripple Effects
Alameda’s history of large, uneven bets complicates any account that treats the crypto market’s collapse as the sole cause of its failure. It also sits alongside November reporting that regulators were examining FTX’s customer-fund handling and its ties to other parts of Bankman-Fried’s business empire, including the SEC and CFTC inquiry into FTX and its affiliates.
The story puts earlier operating risk at the center of the Alameda/FTX arc: a trading firm with serious pre-crash financial strain was connected to an exchange later alleged to have had a bookkeeping back door for altering records.
First-order effects
Alameda and FTX’s collapse is framed less as a market-only casualty and more as the result of risk-taking and financial trouble that predated the crash, further weakening the credibility of their risk-management claims.
Daniel Friedberg’s earlier endorsement of Alameda’s owner gains sharper scrutiny because he later became FTX’s chief regulatory officer.
Second-order effects
The SEC and CFTC investigation into FTX’s customer-fund handling has a broader factual backdrop for examining whether Alameda’s financial needs were insulated from, or supported by, the exchange.
FTX counterparties and lenders have reason to reassess representations about Alameda’s reputation and financial controls when evaluating their own exposure to the group.
Third-order effects
The combined record points to a governance fault line in crypto groups that pair an exchange with a proprietary trading affiliate: risk at the affiliate can become an exchange-wide credibility and customer-protection issue.
If regulators treat affiliate relationships and internal-record controls as linked failures, the industry will face greater pressure to demonstrate genuine separation between trading operations and customer platforms.
The trend: Crypto’s legitimacy gap is increasingly being defined by whether exchanges can prove that affiliated trading firms, customer assets, and internal controls are meaningfully separated.
yuga better find some new lawyers, i wouldnt doubt Fenwick gets disbarred/dissolved by our trial in June. “We know the owner of Alameda and consider him of the highest reputation in the industry,” -Fenwick https://www.wsj.com/...
Lawsuits to follow. ""We know the owner of Alameda and consider him of the highest reputation in the industry," Daniel Friedberg wrote on the letterhead of his law firm, Fenwick & West LLP. He later took a job as FTX's chief regulatory officer." https://www.wsj.com/...
He was pushing the CFTC to institute a change in margin methodology that he deliberately skirted on his own exchange. Demonstrates what he thinks of the margin methodology. Fraud. Troubles at Sam Bankman-Fried's Alameda Began Well Before Crypto Crash https://www.wsj.com/... https…
“We know the owner of Alameda and consider him of the highest reputation in the industry,” Dan Friedberg wrote to one prospective lender to Alameda. He later became FTX's chief regulatory officer. w/@kowsmann, @Vlajournaliste, @GZuckerman, @eliotwb https://www.wsj.com/...
Sam Bankman-Fried has said Alameda prospered until it was tripped up in a crypto crash. Its troubles were much deeper than that. https://www.wsj.com/...
WSJ says Sam Bankman-Fried likely to plead not guilty. That's what Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht did, even though he was offered a plea deal that would likely have given him a 10-year sentence. …
Nearly every defendant pleads “Not Guilty” at their arraignment. It's not surprising that SBF will. Unfortunately for him, it appears unlikely that he will obtain anything less than a judgment of Guilty on multiple felony counts by the end of this case. https://twitter.com/...
“SBF is also accused of defrauding the FEC starting in 2020 by conspiring with others to make illegal contributions to candidates and political committees in the names of other people”. No way he has bank accounts in other peoples names, right...right? https://www.wsj.com/...
He is a risk taker but he also hasn't bet right in a long long time — Sam Bankman-Fried is likely to enter a plea of not guilty Sam Bankman-Fried is likely to enter a plea of not guilty https://www.wsj.com/...
WSJ says Sam Bankman-Fried likely to plead not guilty. That's what Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht did, even though he was offered a plea deal that would likely have given him a 10-year sentence. Now he's serving two lifesentences plus 40 years, with no possibility of parole.
What about these accounts? 1P5ZEDWTKTFGxQjZphgWPQUpe554WKDfHQ 1LQoWist8KkaUXSPKZHNvEyfrEkPHzSsCd And this newly $236M funded address: 1JHceFenZHACSRPD6tE4bfU6yJ83wTG6kH https://twitter.com/...
Martin Shkreli is back on Unchained to discuss Sam Bankman-Fried's chances in court. Topics: 👨🏻⚖ ️ why he thinks SBF's new judge is a “7” 📖 different strategies SBF might try if he pleads not guilty 📲 how Martin learned about crypto while in prison + more! https://unchainedpodca…
🔔 BREAKING NEWS by WSJ: Alameda almost collapsed in 2018. ☠️ Thanks to FTX's launch, it was back on track, using the customer funds. 🦨 — Some projects are just better when dead asap. 😥
BREAKING: Alameda almost collapsed in 2018 - then FTX was launched and customer funds were used to support Alameda - Wall Street Journal FFS! 🤦♂️ https://twitter.com/...
Also maybe this is common knowledge but I didn't realize that famous SBF origin story trade in Japan profited less than $30 million total, for some reason I thought it was like this historic all time money printer https://twitter.com/...
This great piece on how Alameda / FTX actually worked behind the scenes includes an incredible “mistakes were made” quote from a crypto brokerage doing business with FTX https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
“Sam Bankman-Fried built the cryptocurrency exchange FTX on the reputation of his trading firm, Alameda Research LLC...But a closer look at Alameda shows it never was particularly good at investing.” 🤦 - @WSJ https://www.wsj.com/...
More people need to ask, who is Daniel Friedberg? The “Chief Regulatory Officer"/"General Counsel" for FTX/Alameda, from the UltimateBet poker cheating scandal. Liars supporting liars. https://twitter.com/...
Billions of dollars disappeared under your watch, running a centralized exchange where you manipulated and hid transactions. Had #FTX been 100% on a decentralized blockchain, this scam would have been impossible to pull off. #PulseChain #PulseX #DeFi https://twitter.com/...