- Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly said he may launch a new token after prison.
- The disgraced crypto entrepreneur believes that investors would support it.
- SBF needs $50 million to $100 million to build a serious business, as per a fellow inmate.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, said he could launch a new cryptocurrency after leaving prison.
Bankman-Fried, now 34, is serving a 25-year sentence after his 2023 conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges. He remains in a federal prison in Lompoc, California.
Fellow inmate David Bunevacz said Bankman-Fried spoke about needing between $50 million and $100 million in starting capital to build a serious company. During one conversation, he reportedly said he would create his own token after release and claimed people would rush to buy it.
Bunevacz later said the remark may have been a joke and added that investors would probably not flock to such a project.
Legal Options Continue to Shrink
Bankman-Fried recently suffered another setback after a US appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence. His arguments that key evidence was excluded from the trial failed, leaving him with limited paths to shorten his prison term.
He formally filed a presidential pardon application with the Trump administration on June 8. Without legal relief or clemency, Bankman-Fried could remain in prison until around 2044.
According to sources, he takes Adderall for ADHD and clinical depression and has been writing a serialized prison memoir titled Manfred. Earlier reports said he continued discussing crypto in prison and even encouraged guards to look into Solana.
A Portfolio That Could Have Been Worth Billions
Bankman-Fried’s comments about launching a new token come as several former Alameda Research investments have surged in value.
A $200,000 investment made in 2022 in AI startup Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, secured a 5% stake. The position was later sold during the FTX bankruptcy process for the same $200,000.
Other bets also appreciated sharply. Alameda’s $500 million investment in Anthropic grew alongside the AI company’s rise in valuation. Its Robinhood stake reached around $5 billion in value, while investments in Genesis Digital and SpaceX also expanded significantly.
Had those holdings been retained, the portfolio could have been worth tens of billions of dollars.
FTX Collapse Changed Everything
Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried diverted billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX to Alameda Research. A jury found him guilty on seven criminal counts.
The collapse of FTX forced the bankruptcy sales of many assets at much lower prices. Former customers are still following repayment efforts, while other civil and bankruptcy cases linked to the exchange remain active.
Related: SBF Floats New Crypto Plan From Prison After Losing Out on Tens of Billions
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