SBF and CZ are at it again on Twitter as FTX founder says he'll testify

© via REUTERS

By Geoffrey Smith

AiVIF.com -- Sam Bankman-Fried said he intends to testify at a Senate committee hearing into the collapse of his crypto exchange FTX next week after all, but critics were swift to cast doubt on his sincerity.

Earlier this week, Bankman-Fried had declined an invitation from Senator Maxine Waters to testify at the hearing into the collapse of his exchange, an episode that has dealt a devastating blow to the credibility of the crypto space, threatening to leave over 1 million investors out of pocket. On Monday, he had appeared to stall for time, saying he would do his best to explain "Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened."

He repeated those caveats on Friday, arguing that he still doesn't have access to much of his personal or professional data. "So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won't be as helpful as I'd like," he said.

However, he volunteered information of a couple of select areas:

"--FTX US's solvency and American customers
--Pathways that could return value to users internationally
--What I think led to the crash
--My own failings"

Observers quickly pointed out the self-styled 'SBF' had left out any mention of FTX International, the Bahamas-based entity through which Bankman-Fried directed most of his empire's most questionable dealings.

"Noticeably absent from this list is FTX international, where SBF commingled, stole, then gambled away all the funds," tweeted Nate Anderson, the founder of short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. "Seems his plan is to claim ignorance to any subject matter area that could be remotely legally dangerous to him."

The news was received with skepticism also by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose move to pull liquidity from FTX triggered its collapse. Zhao has had to defend his actions repeatedly since then, his take made easier by mounting evidence - some of it supplied by FTX's new CEO and bankruptcy administrator - of reckless and fraudulent misconduct at FTX over the last two years. He returned to the attack on Friday, reminding his followers that "FTX spent money on Miami Stadium, multiple Super Bowl ads, baseball referees, F1, not to mention massive political donations and luxury real-estate. Oh, and reprehensible misuse of customer funds."

Zhao accused Bankman-Fried of becoming "unhinged" after Binance pulled over $2 billion in funding from FTX after learning about the true state of its finances.

"He launched a series of offensive tirades at multiple Binance team members, including threatening to go to "extraordinary lengths to make us pay" – we still have those text messages," Zhao claimed.

Bankman-Fried, who has maintained he could have turned FTX around had Zhao not pulled his funding, accused Zhao of "lying", accusing him of moving the goalposts at a critical moment in talks between the two.

"You threatened to walk at the last minute if we didn't kick in an extra ~$75 million," Bankman-Fried claimed, before adding: "None of this is necessary. You won."

Reaction to the exchange between the two continues to suggest that if Bankman-Fried does turn up to the Senate hearing, he will have a tough job changing the public's minds about what happened.

"Don't frame this as CZ versus you on a business deal. You STOLE CUSTOMER FUNDS Sam," tweeted Bruce Fenton, managing director of Fenton Capital. "The moment you had a single penny of customer funds move to Alameda it was theft. The money wasn't there because you stole it and used the stolen funds on media and political donations."