Crypto Billionaire Joins Elon Musk, Bill Gates In Pledging Majority Of Wealth To Charity

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has pledged to give away the majority of his wealth to charitable organizations.

What Happened: The 30-year-old FTX chief has become the latest person to sign the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s richest to give away a significant portion of their fortunes, either during their lifetime or in their wills.

Forbes estimated that Bankman-Fried is worth $21 billion, with a large part of his personal wealth tied to his equity stake in FTX. After its latest round of funding this January, the cryptocurrency exchange was valued at $32 billion.

I'm excited and honored to sign the Giving Pledge: https://t.co/9Z6eTdR1a0

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) June 1, 2022

“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,” stated Bankman-Fried in his pledge letter.

Why It Matters: Bankman-Fried rose to billionaire status after the cryptocurrency boom but isn’t convinced about the longevity of Bitcoin BTC/USD as a payments network.

The FTX chief said earlier this year, that he believes that Proof-of-Stake blockchains will stand the test of time, as opposed to Proof-of-Work blockchains that are reliant on the energy-intensive mining process.

The Giving Pledge was created in 2010 by Microsoft Corporation MSFT founder Bill Gates, his wife Melinda Gates, and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) founder Warren Buffett.

Other notable signatories include Meta Platforms Inc. FB founder Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk, and Coinbase Global Inc COIN CEO Brian Armstrong.

Photo courtesy: FTX