An excerpt from the book Number Go Up details an April 2022 FTX conference in the Bahamas, where writer Michael Lewis lavished Sam Bankman-Fried with praise
Three years ago, nobody knew who you were. And now you're sitting on the cover of magazines. And you're a gazillionaire.
New York MagazineZeke Faux
Context & Ripple Effects
The excerpt arrives after reporting that Michael Lewis had shadowed Bankman-Fried for six months while the exchange’s collapse was being turned into a book and potential screen project. It supplies a contemporaneous scene from FTX’s peak-era public image rather than a new development in the legal case.
It also sits beside Lewis’s later account of Bankman-Fried as delusional in Going Infinite, sharpening the contrast between early access and retrospective judgment.
First-order effects
The excerpt gives readers a concrete example of prominent media validation around Bankman-Fried before FTX’s collapse, placing Lewis’s earlier praise under renewed scrutiny.
For Bankman-Fried, the passage reinforces how quickly his public reputation had been elevated—an important backdrop to the subsequent collapse and legal proceedings.
Second-order effects
Publishers and audiences assessing FTX narratives must weigh the value of close access against the risk that access can reproduce a subject’s self-presentation.
The contrast may increase demand for retrospective reporting that tests the institutions, investors, and media figures that helped legitimize crypto executives during boom periods.
Third-order effects
If such reassessments continue, crypto coverage is likely to place more emphasis on governance, custody, and verifiable operations than on founder mythology and rapid-wealth narratives.
The broader accountability question extends beyond any one author: access-driven profiles can become part of the reputational infrastructure that fast-growing financial platforms use to gain trust.
The trend: FTX’s aftermath is turning crypto’s boom-era celebrity coverage into a wider examination of how narrative, access, and institutional credibility compound around high-growth founders.
Sometimes if something sounds really dumb, or like a scam, it's because it is. Trust your instincts: “Another crypto executive showed me a digital image of a sneaker that he'd bought for $8 and that he said was now worth more than $1 million.”
“I asked one coder if crypto would ever be helpful for regular people. ‘Why is it that you think that is important?’ he said to me, in total sincerity. ‘I really would like to know.’”
Brutal but warranted. I love Lewis but consider him the luckiest man alive that his sure-to-be-hagiographic SBF didn't come out before the implosion—and in time for the re-write Zeke's book, meanwhile, looks great
>> @ZekeFaux: “It struck me that almost any of the companies I'd heard about would be good fodder for an investigative story. But the thought of methodically gathering facts to disprove their ridiculous promises was exhausting...” https://nymag.com/...
I'd heard that Bankman-Fried was going to be the subject of Michael Lewis's next book. But the author's questions were so fawning they seemed inappropriate for a journalist. https://nymag.com/...
This article, excerpted from a book, is alternately hilarious and depressing, illustrating the power of delusions and deception to keep reality at bay, if only temporarily. https://nymag.com/...