CONSTANCE Wang was COO of FTX and then co-CEO of FTX digital markets, FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary.
But what is the story behind the FTX executive?
Who is Constance Wang?
Constance Wang graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Finance
She joined FTX in 2019 as chief operating officer of the firm’s crypto derivatives exchange.
In January 2022 she was then promoted to co-CEO of FTX digital markets, overseeing the Bahamas HQ.
Sign up to get our weekly cryptocurrency, NFT and metaverse news round-ups direct to your inbox
FTX Digital Markets allowed users to move fiat currency into cryptocurrency and vice versa.
On the company’s LinkedIn page, it said: “FTX Digital Markets offers users regulated access to FTX’s industry-leading derivatives, options, volatility products, and other FTX products and services.”
Before joining FTX, Wang was at Huobi Global, a crypto exchange in Singapore for eight months and prior to that an analyst at Credit Suisse in Singapore.
As chief operating officer, Wang said she was “primarily responsible for global user growth, partnerships, public relations and marketing, institutional clients servicing, and global expansion operations.”
READ MORE ON 24/7 CRYPTO
At the time of FTX’s collapse Wang was living in Sam Bankman-Fried’s 10-person penthouse in the Bahamas.
Wang said: “I was in Credit Suisse for two years doing a compliance management training program which I didn’t really like and that’s why I moved away from it.
“I started joining crypto in 2018 and back then I was in Singapore doing institutional sales and I met Sam and we just clicked immediately.
“So I moved to Hong Kong from Singapore in early 2019 to work on FTX together with Sam.”
What happened to FTX?
Sam Bankman-Fried founded two separate firms: a hedge fund called Alameda Research and a cryptocurrency exchange called FTX.
FTX created its own cryptocurrency, called FTT.
But the company minted too much of it and sent it to Alameda – using it as collateral to take out loans.
In November 2022, it was reported two-fifths of Alameda’s $14.6 billion balance sheet was held in FTT, which caused panic amongst FTX customers.
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, liquidated 23 million FTT, which caused its price to plummet.
When the price of FTT fell, it left Alameda unable to pay back lenders.
Zhao tried to buy FTX, but abandoned the deal after finding holes in the company’s finances.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022. The exchange went from being worth $32 billion.
