BBC highlights Sam Bankman-Fried with ‘Downfall of the Crypto King’ show

BBC looks at “Sam Bankman-Fried, the mop-haired, nerdy maths genius who set out to transform the world of crypto but ended up being its biggest loser.”
Panorama will air on BBC One on September 25 at 20:00 and run for 11 months.
Sam Bankman-Fried is the former CEO of FTX, the crypto exchange that collapsed in 2022.

Just days to Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial in the US, British broadcaster BBC has lined up an investigative piece on the disgraced “crypto king” who once had been the darling of Wall Street and Capitol Hill.

Now under arrest and facing trial, the man who wanted to change crypto is arguably already its biggest villain so far. BBC’s investigative programme Panorama will air a documentary dubbed “Downfall of the Crypto King”.

BBC looks at the rise and fall of Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, fondly known as SBF in his heyday as the crypto king given his crypto empire spanning the exchange FTX, Alameda Research and numerous subsidiaries, is the subject of a show that will run on BBC’s Panorama for eleven months.

SBF was the face of crypto in Washington as he looked to use his influence with politicians and regulators to make FTX the biggest crypto exchange in the world. But in October 2022, the crypto genius came stuck as his $40 billion crypto company collapsed. Over a million customers were left facing billions in losses as the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November.

Panorama’s documentary will focus on what happened, taking interviews and investigative reports to piece together the red flags that preceded the FTX collapse. How SBF blindsided nearly everyone with charity, political donations and scruffy-haired charm forms part of the show.

It’s notable that FTX recently sued Bankman-Fried’s parents in relation to millions of dollars allegedly gifted to them.