Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX attempts to raise $9 billion to fix FTX problem

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, is attempting to raise new capital in an effort to compensate customers despite filing for bankruptcy.

He recently stated on Twitter that he is “meeting in-person” with regulators and prospective investors to see what can be done for customers. “then comes investors. however, clients first, “said he.

He also gave some background on FTX’s abrupt collapse and how it went from being one of the most influential players in the sector to having a $9 billion hole in its balance sheet.

In a tweet thread, SBF said,

“A few weeks ago, FTX was handling ~$10b/day of volume and billions of transfers. But there was too much leverage–more than I realized. A run on the bank and market crash exhausted liquidity. So what can I try to do? Raise liquidity, make customers whole, and restart.”

According to SBF, the company’s current liquid assets are less than $8 billion, its semiliquid assets are more than $5.5 billion, and its illiquid assets are another $3.5 billion.

He is therefore attempting to raise $9 billion in order to temporarily cover the company’s $9 billion in semi-liquid and illiquid assets.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed in a separate report that SBF has been frantically pitching investors in an effort to raise money.