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Sam Bankman-Fried Rebuffed Barry Silbert's and Celsius' Requests for Help, Ex-FTX CEO Testifies at His Trial
The crypto mogul served as a white knight for other struggling companies, though, before his empire fell, too.
Updated Oct 27, 2023, 9:17 p.m. Published Oct 27, 2023, 9:06 p.m.
Before Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX crypto empire blew up in November 2022, he acted – in an industry lacking a conventional backstop like the Federal Reserve – as the savior of a couple hobbled companies, BlockFi and Voyager.
He testified Friday at his criminal fraud and conspiracy trial that there were a couple other high-profile situations where he passed on helping. Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert asked FTX CEO Bankman-Fried for equity capital for DCG's Genesis subsidiary sometime during the crypto market downturn last year, Bankman-Fried told jurors Friday.
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Genesis was badly harmed by the collapse last year of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, suffering a major loss. It ended up filing for bankruptcy after FTX's own collapse and eventually stopped offering trading services. (DCG also owns CoinDesk.)
Bankman-Fried also testified that Celsius, a crypto exchange and lender, also asked for emergency funds, but he shot down the request. (It, too, went bankrupt, in July 2022, as did Voyager that month, before FTX's collapse, and BlockFi afterward in November.)
Spokespeople for DCG and Celsius didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Read all of CoinDesk's SBF trial coverage here.
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French Banking Giant BPCE to Roll Out Crypto Trading for 2M Retail Clients
The service will allow customers to buy and sell BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC through a separate digital asset account managed by Hexarq.
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- French banking group BPCE will start offering crypto trading services to 2 million retail customers through its Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Épargne apps, with plans to expand to 12 million customers by 2026.
- The service will allow customers to buy and sell BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC through a separate digital asset account managed by Hexarq, with a €2.99 monthly fee and 1.5% transaction commission.
- The move follows similar initiatives by other European banks, such as BBVA, Santander, and Raiffeisen Bank, which have already started offering crypto trading services to their customers.
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