SBF: Regrets Following Advice to File for Bankruptcy Protection, Could Have Fully Resumed Withdrawals Within One Month

SBF has yet to provide a specific explanation for the losses, and his description of the misappropriation of user funds is quite peculiar, but he did confirm that the breach of FTX's funds was indeed internal. In an interview with Vox via Twitter direct messages, he also discussed his views on regulation, bankruptcy procedures, and fundraising plans for the future.

Note: Journalist Kelsey Piper from the foreign media Vox emphasized that she has confirmed via email with SBF that the Twitter direct messages were indeed from him and not hacked.

Pushing for Regulation is a PR Move

Regarding the image of continuously pushing for regulatory policies in the past, SBF stated:

Yes, some are just doing it for public relations, screw the regulatory agencies, they only make things worse and do not protect users at all. No one is pushing for regulation, do you want to know the truth? No one in other financial sectors is doing it either.

Where Did the Money Go?

SBF gave rather vague answers regarding whether funds were used and Alameda's losses.

He pointed out that many of Alameda's positions were slowly built up after the collapse of LUNA, combined with chaotic accounting, and he only recently realized the extent of bad debts in the past few weeks. Regarding whether user funds were used, he remained evasive and implicated other exchanges:

Not all user funds were lent out, the specific situation is more chaotic, each step individually seems reasonable, but when I put everything together last week, it wasn't. Most exchanges have deliberately done similar things, just not on such a large scale, and there has been no run on the bank.

The reporter questioned, does the argument that "let's take all the user deposits out" exist?

SBF explained:

It's like FTX doesn't have a bank account, but everyone can wire money to Alameda's bank account and trade on FTX. Three years later, it seems that people have wired over $8 billion to Alameda, but we forgot about the relationship between Alameda and the FTX account, resulting in some funds never showing up on FTX.

The Biggest Regret: Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

SBF claimed he messed up, but he believes the worst thing was following everyone's advice and executing Chapter 11 bankruptcy:

If we hadn't entered bankruptcy, things would have recovered to at least over 70% by now, withdrawals could have reopened within a month, and everyone could have withdrawn, but now the liquidation of collateral has caused more damage, leaving only about 50% of the funds.

SBF also mentioned the media-exposed core team members, Engineering Director Nishad Singh, and FTX CTO Gary Wang.

SBF claimed Gary Wang is very fearful of the events, while Nishad Singh is remorseful and ashamed.

Suspected Hacking?

SBF stated:

It was hacked, possibly by a former employee, or a current employee's computer was implanted with malicious software, about a few billion dollars.

Note: According to the FTX Hacker address, it holds over $3 billion.

Main Goal: Raise $8 Billion

Regarding the next plan, SBF stated:

I have two weeks to raise $8 billion, which is basically the most important thing in my life.

$8 billion, is it possible? SBF ended with a sense of desolation, just a month ago he was the world's strongest fundraising machine, but now he is like a wreck.