Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has pledged to give away the majority of his wealth to charitable organizations.
What Happened: The 30-year-old FTX chief has become the latest person to sign the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s richest to give away a significant portion of their fortunes, either during their lifetime or in their wills.
Forbes estimated that Bankman-Fried is worth $21 billion, with a large part of his personal wealth tied to his equity stake in FTX. After its latest round of funding this January, the cryptocurrency exchange was valued at $32 billion.
I'm excited and honored to sign the Giving Pledge: https://t.co/9Z6eTdR1a0
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) June 1, 2022
“A while ago I became convinced that our duty was to do the most we could for the long-run aggregate utility of the world,” stated Bankman-Fried in his pledge letter.
Why It Matters: Bankman-Fried rose to billionaire status after the cryptocurrency boom but isn’t convinced about the longevity of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as a payments network.
The FTX chief said earlier this year, that he believes that Proof-of-Stake blockchains will stand the test of time, as opposed to Proof-of-Work blockchains that are reliant on the energy-intensive mining process.
The Giving Pledge was created in 2010 by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda Gates, and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) founder Warren Buffett.
Other notable signatories include Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong.
Photo courtesy: FTX
