SAM Bankman-Fried became “warped” as he obsessed over fame, according to the author of a new book about the disgraced former FTX CEO.
Veteran crypto journalist Brady Dale, who has written the first comprehensive book about the downfall of the crypto exchange, argued that the 31-year-old became excited by the growth in his social status.
As FTX’s success grew, Bankman-Fried built an ever bigger public profile, even being named as the richest person in Forbes’s 30 Under 30 list for 2021.
Highlighting how his growing popularity impacted him, Dale said: “I would argue Sam got obsessed with being famous, he got obsessed with celebrity.
“I do think Sam wanted to do good in the world, but I also think he really wanted people to know he was doing good.
“And the bigger they got and the more attention he got, the more excited I think he got about it.”
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In an interview to promote his new book “SBF: How The FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto’s Very Bad Good Guy”, Dale pinpointed what he saw as the perfect example of SBF’s changing behaviour.
The author highlighted a podcast interview that the FTX CEO had given in 2022 shortly after the Super Bowl.
The sport contest that year was known for airing a number of adverts for cryptocurrency firms.
Asked which crypto commercial was his favourite from the event, Bankman-Fried said: “Part of the unfortunate answer here is they do not show the commercials at the actual Super Bowl…. So I haven’t seen most of them.”
Dale argued that SBF saw it was “very important” to highlight that “he hadn’t seen the Super Bowl ad because he had been watching it at the Super Bowl in the famous person box”.
“I think that stuff caused Sam to get sort of warped,” he added.