On October 31, 2025, a document appeared on Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) page on the social network X, in which the former CEO of FTX outlined his version of the reasons for the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse. In the document, he claims that FTX and Alameda Research remained solvent at the time of bankruptcy, placing the blame for the exchange’s downfall on the legal team managing the insolvency process.
This is reported by Business • Media
Main Claims by SBF Regarding FTX’s Bankruptcy
The document, dated September 30, 2025, states that at the time of the bankruptcy announcement, the company had assets amounting to $14.6 billion. According to Bankman-Fried, or individuals acting on his behalf, affected clients have already received or will receive compensation ranging from 119% to 143% of their deposits, and 98% of users, according to him, have already received an average payout of 120% of their contributed amount.
“After paying $8 billion in claims and $1 billion in attorney fees, the company still had $8 billion left. In fact, FTX was never insolvent. There were always enough assets to fully settle all debts to clients — both in November 2022 and today,” the document states.
Bankman-Fried describes the events of November 2022 as a “liquidity crisis,” which he believes could have been overcome if it weren’t for the intervention of the legal team. He claims that FTX, considering stakes in companies like Anthropic, could have been valued at $136 billion as of October 2025. According to him, the exchange began repaying debts to clients even before losing control of the company and continued to generate up to $3 million in revenue from fees daily.
In SBF’s opinion, the company could have made all payments in kind, without delays and automatic conversion of deposits into dollars at undervalued prices. However, after the management was removed, legal proceedings began, and the company lost the ability to do so.
Accusations Against Lawyers and Community Reaction
Bankman-Fried considers the main reason for FTX’s collapse to be the actions of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which, according to him, stood to benefit from initiating bankruptcy proceedings. He claims that the lawyers gained the opportunity to manage the company’s assets and assign themselves rewards from the remaining funds of the exchange. The document also mentions the sale of FTX assets at undervalued prices, staff layoffs, delays in the process, and the spread of “false” statements, which, according to SBF, led to losses for clients and shareholders amounting to $120 billion.
Additionally, the document emphasizes that FTX was not a fraudulent scheme and could have settled with all depositors as early as 2022. The main reason for the company’s devaluation, according to Bankman-Fried, was indeed the actions of external management, not a lack of funds.
After the document was made public, the community’s reaction was mixed. In particular, well-known crypto detective ZachXBT called such statements an attempt at manipulation, noting:
“The fact that today illiquid investments are worth more is just a coincidence. You clearly haven’t learned any lessons from your time in prison and are repeating the same misinformation as before.”
It is also known that in February 2025, Sam Bankman-Fried expressed a desire to receive a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump. Subsequently, reports emerged in the press about lobbying for this decision by his entourage; however, no official request for a pardon has been submitted yet. Some analysts believe that the publication of the document may be an attempt to influence public opinion ahead of possible decisions regarding SBF’s fate.