FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Signs Billionaires’ Giving Pledge

The crypto billionaire has promised to give away the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes.

AccessTimeIconJun 1, 2022 at 9:48 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:44 p.m. UTC
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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has signed the Giving Pledge, a public commitment taken by the world’s richest people and families to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropy either in their lifetimes or in their wills.

Bankman-Fried’s fortune is valued at $21 billion by Forbes, making him among the wealthiest individuals minted by the crypto market boom.

The bulk of Bankman-Fried’s wealth comes from his equity stake in crypto exchange FTX. FTX last closed a $400 million fundraising round in January, which valued the company at $32 billion.

“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,” wrote Bankman-Fried in his pledge letter. “In the end, it’s the work my friends and colleagues at foundations do that matters the most.”

The billionaire crypto founder is a longtime effective altruist, a philosophy that advocates for maximizing the amount of good generated when considering donations to charity.

In recent years, Bankman-Fried has built up a reputation for writing big checks, most notably donating to political campaigns. This includes a record-setting $12 million to fund effective altruism-aligned candidate Carrick Flynn. Last month, Flynn lost in the Oregon Democratic congressional primaries.

To date, the FTX Foundation, FTX’s philanthropic arm, has earmarked $21.8 million to charity.

Coinbase (COIN) founder Brian Armstrong, worth an estimated $2.8 billion, signed the pledge in 2018.

Founded in 2010, the Giving Pledge was created by Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda Gates together with investor Warren Buffet to encourage greater giving from the ultra-wealthy.

To date, the pledge counts 230 signatories from 28 different countries. Other prominent pledgers include Meta (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg, BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Tesla’s (TSLS) CEO Elon Musk.

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Tracy Wang

Tracy was the deputy managing editor at CoinDesk. She owns BTC, ETH, MINA, ENS and some NFTs.


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