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watch now VIDEO 24:49 24:49 How I became a crypto billionaire in 5 years Digital Original FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been shopping for bargains amid the industry's recent carnage and said he still has cash to spend if opportunity knocks. It may seem strange. Other multi-billion-dollar crypto giants spiraled into bankruptcy this year. FTX's main competitor, Coinbase, has seen its shares plunge 70% and has laid off a fifth of its workforce as crypto prices crashed. Yet, FTX is somehow emerging as an industry lifeline. The 30-year-old billionaire says it was a result of stashing away ample cash, keeping overhead low, avoiding lending and being able to move quickly as a private company. "It was important that the industry get through this in one piece," Bankman-Fried told CNBC in an interview at FTX headquarters in Nassau, Bahamas. "It's not going to be good for anyone long-term if we have real pain and real blowouts — it's not fair to customers and it...

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and chief executive officer of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks during an interview on an episode of Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein in New York, US, on Wednesday, Aug 17, 2022. Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images FTX rode the crypto craze to a billion dollars in revenue last year while expanding its global footprint through a flurry of acquisitions, according to internal documents seen by CNBC. The audited financials give a rare glimpse into the privately held start-up's finances. FTX was profitable, quickly expanding across the globe and saw breakneck growth. The privately held crypto exchange's revenue soared more than 1,000% from $89 million to $1.02 billion in 2021. Its profitability, like many start-ups, depends on how you measure it. Operating income was $272 million, up from $14 million a year earlier. FTX saw net income of $388 million last year, up from just $17 million a year earlier. FTX declined to comment on the...