How crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried survived the market wreckage and still expanded his empire
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...