Tech
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried says he ‘made a lot of mistakes’
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency giant FTX, defended his actions on Wednesday in his first public appearance since his exchange collapsed earlier this month.
“Clearly, I made a lot of mistakes. There are things I would give anything to be able to do over again. I didn’t ever try to commit fraud on anyone,” said Bankman-Fried.
The 30-year-old was speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit via video link from the Bahamas in his first public speech after the collapse of FTX and its sister trading firm Alameda Research.
On Nov. 11, FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, and Bankman-Fried also stepped down as CEO.
“I was excited about the prospects of FTX a month ago. I saw it as a thriving, growing business. I was shocked by what happened this month. And you know, reconstructing it…there are things that I wish I had done differently,” he said.
The former crypto billionaire also distanced himself from Alameda, which he said became larger over the course of 2022.
“I wasn’t running Alameda. I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I didn’t know the size of their position,” said Bankman-Fried, adding “that’s a pretty big oversight that I wasn’t more aware.”
He also said that FTX could have margin call positions and could have “closed them down in time such that it would cover all of those, all those shorts, all those liabilities,” but it did not do so.
“And that’s a massive failure of oversight of risk management,” he added.
FTX, which was the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month due to liquidity problems.
While Bankman-Fried later apologized to investors in a series of tweets, cryptocurrencies went into freefall due to the financial turmoil and perceived risks of investors.
The exchange once boasted a $32 billion valuation.
Bankman-Fried, a Democrat donor, told ABC News this week that he currently has just one ATM card and $100,000 in his bank account. He once had an estimated fortune of more than $20 billion.
Additionally, the court imposed a N150 million fine on MultiChoice Nigeria for contesting the jurisdiction of an Abuja court that had previously restrained it from increasing its subscription prices.
The verdict, delivered on Friday, June 7, was handed down by a three-member panel led by Thomas Okosu. The court cited Section 39(2) of the FCCPC Act, which grants the tribunal jurisdiction throughout Nigeria over all profit-oriented commercial activities.
Okosu clarified that the tribunal’s jurisdiction covers all business activities within Nigeria, and he noted that there is no requirement for an aggrieved consumer seeking to enforce their rights to file a complaint with the President of Nigeria or the Price Control Board. He observed that the claimant had written to the FCCPC before filing the case.
“I conclude that this tribunal has the jurisdiction to preside over consumer rights in this case and resolve this issue against MultiChoice,” Okosu stated.
The tribunal also determined that the claimant’s lawsuit was not challenging the price hike itself but the illegality of MultiChoice’s eight-day notice to customers. It noted that MultiChoice had already disobeyed its interim orders and condemned the company’s action of raising DStv and GOtv prices.
The tribunal dismissed MultiChoice’s preliminary objection for disobeying interim orders and imposed an administrative penalty for failing to comply with the tribunal’s directives.
“The first defendant is hereby mandated to pay a N150 million penalty. MultiChoice is hereby ordered to give Nigerians one month of free subscription,” Okosu added.
Previously, the tribunal had restrained MultiChoice from increasing its subscription rates pending the hearing and determination of a motion on notice filed by Barrister Festus Onifade. Onifade had sued MultiChoice Nigeria Ltd and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), accusing the PayTV company of unjustly increasing subscription fees without giving customers a one-month notice and seeking interim orders against the organization.
However, in its reaction, MultiChoice said it will appeal against Friday’s ruling of the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal, CCPT, which slammed a N150 milliuon fine against it for challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
Multichoice Nigeria said it disagrees with the ruling and will file an appeal against it.
The organisation said in a statement: “MultiChoice Nigeria is aware of the recent ruling by the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) regarding its jurisdiction to entertain a price regulation matter. We disagree with the ruling, and will therefore file an appeal against said ruling.
“As the matter is currently sub judice, we are restrained from making further comments.”
Enugu State Governnent has partnered a tech firm, African Leadership Accelerator (ALX), to train youths on online tech skills to tackle unemployment and idleness.
The state government and ALX Africa had made it possible for all Enugu State youths to access free-of-charge training on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applicable to all field of human endeavours and jobs.
Speaking further on the partnership on Thursday in Enugu, the state Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Mr Lloyd Ekweremadu, said that the partnership was meant to up-skill and upgrade knowledge newly or already acquired by the youths in the state.
Ekweremadu said that the partnership and the benefit it would bring to the state “is part of the employment vision of Gov. Peter Mbah to reduce unemployment in the state by about 70 per cent by 2030”.
According to him, what we set out to achieve is to ensure employability of Enugu State youths both in locally and international labour market, which is highly competitive.
“His Excellence, Gov. Peter Mbah is keen on developing the capacity of youths and creating their capabilities for them to compete at the global world employment market.
“We intend to use technology, tech enhancement and development to drive this process and ensure youths in the state cover up the knowledge and employability gap,” he said.
Ekweremadu said that the state would start with AI training, which will be done for all youths free-of-charge and thereafter other system and software training/courses would be done online at a reduced cost.
He advised youth to take advantage of the trainig, adding the youth ministry was fashioning out ways to tackle the issue of getting a place within the metropolis where youths with challenge of not having power supply, internet connectivity, a laptop, tablets and android phones can participate in the training.
The Country General Manager of ALX Africa, Ms Ruby Igwe, said that the partnership on various tech training would bring modern skill sets closer to the people especially youths that needed tech skills for employment purpose and to create their own start-ups and be employers of labour.
Igwe said that the free-of-charge AI course training would be for youths between the ages of 18 and 35; while it would run for six weeks on online platform of ALX Africa.
She said that participants, who successful undergo the course, would be certified as well as have opportunities to participate in other online courses that would enhance their knowledge and reposition them to a vintage position in the global market and international mobility of labour.
“The curriculum for our courses especially the AI course is from a reputable US school and the same course is runned globally and even locally in some countries in Africa and one or two states in Nigeria. So, it is nothing short of internationally acceptable AI training.
“After the AI Course, other online courses, meant to equip youths with soft and international sellable online skills, will follow in partnership with the state government to ensure we carry hundreds of thousands of youths along and prepare them for the competitive future ahead,” she said.
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