From Alameda to an exchange empire
Sam Bankman-Fried, a former Jane Street trader, founded the quantitative trading firm Alameda Research in 2017, then launched the FTX exchange in May 2019 with co-founder Gary Wang. FTX positioned itself as a sophisticated derivatives and spot venue built 'by traders, for traders,' offering leveraged perpetuals, tokenized stocks, and its own exchange token, FTT. Growth was rapid: FTX courted retail and institutional users alike, expanded internationally from a Bahamas base, and became one of the most-used crypto exchanges in the world within three years of launch.
Peak: a $32B valuation and a celebrity brand
FTX raised roughly $1.8-2B across multiple venture rounds from blue-chip investors including Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Temasek, Paradigm, and Tiger Global. A $400M Series C closed in January 2022 valued the company at about $32B. Bankman-Fried became a billionaire and a fixture in Washington policy debates, while FTX spent heavily on brand visibility: a Super Bowl ad, naming rights to the Miami Heat's arena, and endorsement deals with Tom Brady and other celebrities. Throughout, FTX cultivated an image of being the responsible, well-capitalized adult in the crypto room.