Yes, we are talking about the lucky mackerel, and such a twist of fate is truly intriguing. SBF is a story that will be told for years to come. With the collapse of the FTX exchange, the cryptocurrency markets suffered massive losses. In addition, investors who had nearly $10 billion in balances left on the exchange have been going through difficult times. Hundreds of thousands of investors have been left in distress.
SBF: The Scammer Behind FTX
Fathers, mothers, and even many young and old individuals who entrusted their money to the Canadian retirement fund. They trusted SBF and believed that the numbers in their wallets were real while trading on a cryptocurrency exchange.
However, the balances of both their crypto and fiat currencies on the exchange were nothing but virtual numbers. Their money, which belonged to them, was actually being used in high-risk positions through a subsidiary company named Alameda.
Borrowing from someone and getting involved in leveraged trading is the worst thing you can do. Cryptocurrency markets are extremely risky, and SBF, who learned what crypto was in 2017, eroded his customers’ balances because he acted quite boldly in this regard.
He lived a luxurious life with the customer balances he used without permission. He had flashy houses, cars, and above all, mainstream media that supported him. Moreover, he opened the doors of the White House by making millions of dollars in political donations with customer balances.
The Lesson-Learning Ending of FTX Founder
Sam is no longer in his comfortable bed, but behind iron bars, reminiscing about his days in the Bahamas. Now he has a mistake that makes us say we wish every scammer had the same fate. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the trading firm Alameda Research, had to change some of his habits during his prison life at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.
Having learned something from his prison mates, the former Jane Street trader and crypto billionaire, far from his luxurious lifestyle, gave up trading with high-value crypto assets and became a mackerel trader. Since the ban on smoking in 2004, mackerel has been used as a form of currency in federal prisons.
The trend of using food items such as mackerel, known as “mack,” as a currency in prisons emphasizes a system where inaccessible traditional money is replaced by stable, tangible commodities.
Do you remember, Sam once said that if crypto ever ends, he could trade commodities like corn and wheat, as crypto itself is no different from them. His wish was quickly fulfilled, and it seems he has started with mackerel.
Bill Baroni, a prison consultant who has also served time, said in an interview with WSJ that he paid four Macks (mackerels) for his own haircut while inside. According to him, Mack (mackerel) is much more stable than crypto, and it is known that SBF used fish to pay for his last haircut.
Mark Botnick, a spokesperson for Bankman-Fried, stated in a statement to WSJ, “Sam is doing his best under these conditions.” Sam’s expected prison sentence of up to 115 years will be determined on March 28th.
