### FTT Experiences a Remarkable Surge Following Bankman-Fried’s Tweet
FTT, the native cryptocurrency of the now-defunct FTX crypto exchange, experienced a significant surge earlier on Tuesday, soaring approximately 45% in under two hours to reach $2.25. This spike coincided with Sam Bankman-Fried’s first tweet in two years. The former FTX CEO, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud, broke his silence on social media late Monday to comment on recent mass layoffs within the U.S. government. “I have a lot of sympathy for gov’t employees: I, too, have not checked my email for the past few (hundred) days. And I can confirm that being unemployed is a lot less relaxing than it looks,” he shared.
Bankman-Fried’s post, which had restricted replies, also touched on the challenges of workplace dynamics. “Firing people is one of the hardest things to do in the world. It sucks for everyone involved. My experience: a) it is usually not the employee’s fault that they got fired, b) it is usually correct to let them go anyway.” He further noted, “More often, the problem is that the company just doesn’t have the right job for them.” His tweet sparked speculation within the crypto community, leading to renewed interest in FTX-related assets. After trading at $1.55, FTT briefly surged before settling back to $1.69 at the time of reporting. Analysts attributed the rally to traders speculating on developments in FTX’s bankruptcy case.
However, skepticism soon emerged, as Bankman-Fried remains incarcerated at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where direct access to social media is prohibited. “Pretty sure access to X isn’t allowed in federal prison lol. Who is posting from his account?” one user questioned. Alex Thorn, head of research at crypto investment firm Galaxy, speculated that the account might have been compromised, tweeting, “Hacked a gov’t account and changed the name most likely,” in response to a user’s inquiry about how SBF’s account had been gray-checked.
Meanwhile, Unchained Podcast host Laura Shin humorously remarked on Bankman-Fried’s sudden concern for employees, quipping, “I wonder why none of the reasons he lists for having to let employees go is the one he would be most familiar with: perpetrating an $8 billion fraud.” Some believe that his lawyers or close associates may have communicated the messages through the Corrlinks system, which allows federal prisoners to connect with the outside world.
This latest tweet comes just days after SBF reiterated in an interview with The New York Sun that FTX was solvent but illiquid at the time of its collapse. “At that time, there were enough assets to pay off all clients. The problem is that the liquidity crisis caused panic in the market and made it impossible to quickly cash out funds,” SBF claimed. His first interview from prison coincides with FTX beginning to reimburse customers what it asserts is the full amount they lost. However, the compensation is based on cryptocurrency prices at the time of FTX’s 2022 collapse, which has drawn criticism from victims.
