FTX Has Wrecked the Crypto Party in Paradise
The Bahamas, best known for its sun, sand, and crystal waters, is also a paradise for crypto companies. Or at least it was, until crypto exchange FTX made the island of New Providence the setting for a historic crypto collapse in early November.
Bahamas-headquartered FTX declared bankruptcy on November 11, and founder Sam Bankman-Fried retreated into hiding. The exchange’s collapse took with it hundreds of millions of dollars in customer funds. The feeling in crypto circles now, says Nicholas Rees, cofounder of Bahamas-based payments firm Kanoo Pays, is of “complete and utter shock.”
As other senior FTX employees fled the country, they were replaced by a throng of reporters and crypto influencers heading in the opposite direction, hoping to locate the disgraced crypto wunderkind. Bankman-Fried was ultimately arrested at his $40 million penthouse by Bahamian police on December 12 under the instruction of US law enforcement. He has since been extradited to the US, and on January 3 pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and commodities fraud.
