NISHAD SINGH rapid rise was only beaten by the pace of his fall. Just five years after leaving university his role at FTX had seen him become a billionaire and a major political donor.
But the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange brought an end to his time living the high life.
So, what is the story behind Nishad Singh, and what is his net worth now?
Who is Nishad Singh?
Nishad Singh was born in 1996 in California, US, to parents of Indian origin.
While his role at FTX has put him in the spotlight in 2022, he first made headlines ten years earlier at the age of 16.
Despite being an asthma sufferer, in September 2012 Singh broke the world record for running an Ultramarathon. He ran the 100-mile race in just 23 hours, 33 minutes and 57 seconds, faster than any 16-year-old had completed the feat before.
Sign up to get our weekly cryptocurrency, NFT and metaverse news round-ups direct to your inbox
Upon completing his high school education, he stayed local to attend the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and computer science in 2017.
Upon graduating, Singh joined Facebook working as a software engineer working on machine learning.
Joining Zuckerberg’s team had originally been described as a “dream job” by the young computer technician – but in the end, he lasted just five months at the firm.
In December 2017, Singh was approached by Sam Bankman Fried. The pair already knew of each other, with SBF’s brother, Gabe, having attended the same high school as Singh.
READ MORE ON 24/7 CRYPTO
Bankman Fried suggested his brother’s friend join his hedge fund Alameda Research as Director of Engineering. Singh took on the role for 17 months before then moving in April 2019 to Alameda’s sister company, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Singh was among the nine housemates of the SBF who all lived together, running the operation from a penthouse in the Bahamas. Others in the group were Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX chief technical officer, Gary Wang.
As one of the most senior people involved at FTX, Singh was also allegedly aware of the financial mismanagement taking place at the exchange.
FTX went bankrupt after SBF was found to have been secretly transferring billions of dollars of customer funds from the crypto exchange to Alameda in order to provide the hedge fund with extra cash for risky investments.
Ellison is reported to have admitted in a video meeting with employees that both she and Singh had been aware of the transactions.
SBF resigned from FTX after the exchange declared it was insolvent, with Singh sacked by the new CEO at the firm just days later.
In a conversation with a reporter from Vox – which Bankman-Fried claimed he did not realise was going to be made public – the FTX founder said: “Nishad is ashamed and guilty.”
He added the bankruptcy has “hit him hard”.
“I mean it hit all of us hard,” he continued, speaking to the journalist over a Twitter direct message. “But it hit him HARD.”
Nothing has been heard of Singh since FTX’s collapse. The director of engineering has kept a low profile, not commenting on media stories and failing to return the calls of lawyers overseeing the firm’s bankruptcy.
What is Nishad Singh’s net worth?
Nishad Singh held a 7.83 per cent stake in the FTX business empire, which in March 2022 was worth $572million. He also received a $543million loan from Alameda, taking his total net worth to over a billion dollars.
However, following the collapse of FTX, his assets are now without value, taking his net worth down to zero.
Like Sam Bankman Fried, Singh used his wealth to make a number of political donations.
Official documents from the US Federal Election Commission indicate he has donated more than $13million to the Democrats since the start of the 2020 presidential election.
