As FTX, one of the world's three largest cryptocurrency exchanges, entered bankruptcy protection proceedings, it was predicted that founder Sam Bankman-Fried could face up to life in prison if convicted of fraud.
According to CNBC on the 5th (local time), the US Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating why FTX, which was valued at 32 billion dollars (41.6 trillion won), collapsed in an instant.
FTX's use of billions of dollars of customer money to cover losses for its subsidiary hedge fund Alameda Research has been blamed for the collapse.
It is reported that over $8 billion of customer funds were actually withdrawn.
Accordingly, if Bankman-Fried is indicted by the US authorities, it is expected that the core charge will be whether he deceived customers and loaned or provided customer funds to subsidiaries.
(Photo = Getty Image Korea)