PEOPLE

Three Arrows Capital founder Su Zhu claimed to have blown the whistle on FTX: "I was initially suppressed by The Block!"

share
Three Arrows Capital founder Su Zhu claimed to have blown the whistle on FTX: "I was initially suppressed by The Block!"

Three Arrows Capital founder Su Zhu recently reappeared in the scene, frequently participating in discussions related to FTX and Alameda. A recent exposure of a conversation revealed that Su Zhu had once doubted Alameda. He also expressed that he, like everyone else, had been deceived by Alameda, and that justice is about to prevail.

On the 15th, Su Zhu further pointed out that FTX employees had been attacking him for two months due to his suspicions, prompting him to provide evidence to the media outlet The Block.

Zane Tackett came out to refute Su Zhu's fabrication of stories, and Su Zhu counterattacked by urging Zane Tackett to clarify the issue of funds being withdrawn from the Bahamas. As of the deadline, both parties were still challenging each other.

Advertisement - Please scroll down for more content

Review of 2019: Three Arrows Capital's Su Zhu Once Questioned Alameda

Twitter account @sumfattytuna released several screenshots of conversation records involving multiple prominent figures in the cryptocurrency venture industry, including what appears to be Three Arrows Capital's founder Su Zhu (account possibly deleted), Multicoin Capital's founder Kyle Samani, DNA.Fund's founder Scott Walker, Variant Ventures' founder Spencer Noon, cross-chain platform Hyperlane's founder Jon Kol, accelerator Alliance's core member Qiao Wang, as well as members from Flashbots and Paradigm. Information alert: Individuals in the conversation screenshots are self-identified, and none have responded, except for Su Zhu participating in the discussion.

In January 2019, Su Zhu asked this group of experts about the reliability of Alameda and mentioned that Alameda wanted to borrow $200 million at a 15% interest rate. He also claimed that if an entity invested over $50 million, the interest rate would be even higher, and asserted "high returns, zero risk." The experts in the conversation seemed to appreciate the benefits Alameda was offering.

Alliance's core member Qiao Wang added that he had heard Alameda was in the top position in market share, very well-known, and it was not surprising that they could offer a 15% interest rate as a market maker.

Su Zhu pointed out that if Alameda was truly in the top position, their net assets of $5 million seemed extremely low. He believed that if Alameda was the market leader, this amount was too low.

Su Zhu stated, "As someone from a traditional hedge fund trading background, I find this unacceptable."

Although Qiao Wang continued to explain that Alameda might borrow more money to supplement their assets, Su Zhu expressed skepticism, stating that no hedge fund would sponsor events with Binance, claiming "high returns, zero risk" to raise funds. The scam company Bitconnect had also claimed to use Bitcoin for arbitrage trading.

Qiao Wang agreed that the claim of "high returns, zero risk" sounded amateurish.

Su Zhu indicated that if Alameda truly held the top market share, then they should be able to offer higher than 15% at their level. They could have raised equity instead of issuing fixed-rate debt that could be redeemed at any time. "I can only say that this is a more sophisticated version, a more socially acceptable Bitconnect," he remarked.

Epilogue: Su Zhu Claims Harassment by Alameda

Su Zhu further pointed out that after the conversation, the user claiming to be a Bahamian FTX user withdrawing funds due to regulatory pressure was former employee Zane Tackett, and FTX Digital Market's CEO Ryan Salame had continuously attacked him for two months, disrupting his business. As a result, he turned to the media outlet The Block for evidence.

Su Zhu also mentioned that venture capitalists Darius Sit from QCP, Amber Group's co-founder Tiantian, and Coinflex exchange's Mark Lamb had spoken to The Block and provided relevant evidence.

However, The Block's founder Mike Dudas suppressed this article and became one of the media outlets that heavily promoted SBF.

Su Zhu stated, "Later, I gave up the panic about FTX, but I don't use it. Until mid-2021, due to the Chinese ban, we were the largest traders on Huobi and OKEx, and then we switched to FTX and Binance. FTX offered us very favorable conditions, and with strong support from many major venture capitalists, I assumed they had done their due diligence, and FTX should have grown."

FTX Employees Counter: I Wasn't Even Employed at the Time

Former employee Zane Tackett, who was mentioned, told Su Zhu, "It's unfortunate to see Su Zhu fabricate these stories to re-enter the community. At the time, I was still at B2C2, a competitor of Alameda, and only joined FTX 18 months later. Ryan Salame was also still at Circle and only joined FTX five months later."

Su Zhu responded, "At that time, you were hyping FTT to me every day, which had nothing to do with where you worked. First, explain clearly what happened with the Bahamas fund withdrawal."

The Block's Founder Mike Dudas Dismisses Baseless Claims

The Block's founder Mike Dudas stated that he sold The Block in 2021 and became a board member in 2020. He had no involvement in The Block's affairs when FTX was fundraising. He believed Su Zhu wanted to improve his image because he was about to start fundraising again. The Block's content team mentioned that they had also reported on the suspicious activities of Alameda and FTX in 2019.

Former Scandal Figures Resurface, Uniswap Founder: Don't Bother with Them

The cryptocurrency industry has a short memory. The FTX incident has dominated our minds for over a week, and SBF's image has transformed into that of a fearsome double-sided villain. The previous villains, Do Kwon from the Terra incident, and the bankrupt Three Arrows Capital Su Zhu, have begun to resurface.

Do Kwon discussed SBF in a live broadcast, while Su Zhu told someone, "We were all deceived by Alameda just like you were."

Uniswap founder Hayden posted, "Don't let those scammers have the opportunity to reshape their image just because of FTX's collapse."