Sam Bankman-Fried: This crypto-billionaire mints money, then gives it away

Not all billionaires intend to make money so that they can donate as much as possible to the society. Sam Bankman-Fried at 30 years of age is the founder of crypto exchange FTX and earns money with the sole stated objective of giving it away.

Sam has a fortune of more than $20 billion but drives a Toyota Corolla, lives a minimalistic life like a college-goer and has a strong altruistic bend of mind.

So, where did he learn his lessons in philanthropy? Sam talks of ‘effective altruism’, which he came across during his time in MIT about 10 years back. “The philosophy uses mathematical calculations to determine how people could do the most good with their money and time,” he said.

Meanwhile, he came across Bitcoin and made up his mind that he would make loads of money so that he can give it away.

‘Strange capitalist monk’

When asked how much wealth would he like to own, Sam says it won’t be above 1% of his earnings each year or, say, $100,000. “You pretty quickly run out of really effective ways to make yourself happier by spending money,” Bankman-Fried told Bloomberg. “I don’t want a yacht.”

The billionaire finds accommodation with a group of friends, sleeps on a bean bag, plays video games in his spare time and is often found delivering talks on Zoom. Despite the indifference towards worldly pleasures, Sam stays focused on his work: earning money.

Bankman-Fried’s friends call him a “strange capitalist monk”. A peer said he had seen Sam work so hard that he didn’t find time to take a shower. Sam even got off relationships to save time and thinks of sleep “as an unnecessary luxury”. “Every minute you spend sleeping is costing you X thousand dollars, and that directly means you can save this many less lives,” said Matt Nass, Sam’s childhood friend.

During the three years of his first job at Wall Street, Sam gave half of his earnings for animal welfare. After Russia invaded Ukraine, he personally donated $250,000 in Tether to Ukraine. His crypto exchange, FTX, gave cash to all of its Ukrainian users. When asked how much does he think before giving, Sam says, “It’s not a decision that I constantly reevaluate, because I think it just doesn’t do me any good to be constantly reevaluating anything.”

Celebrity-fans

Sam Bankman-Fried has quite a following among the celebrities and the who’s who of the world of business and sports. Recently, he watched the Super Bowl from box seats just in front of NBA star Steph Curry, who endorses FTX. He also had lunch with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and a party DJ’d by the head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Singer Sia invited him to a dinner at a Beverly Hills mansion with Bezos and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, where Kate Hudson sang the national anthem and he chatted about crypto with pop star Katy Perry. The next day she told her 154 million followers on Instagram, in an unsolicited endorsement, “im quitting music and becoming an intern for @ftx_official ok”