Tech billionaire Elon Musk once dismissed Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) attempt to set up a “Blockchain Twitter,” raising questions about the seriousness of SBF and wondering if he even had the money to do it in the first place.
What Happened: Musk appeared dismissive about SBF’s proposal to implement blockchain technology on Twitter, now X.
He underscored the technical difficulties associated with this, while also doubting SBF’s financial position to undertake something like this.
Musk was responding to investment banker Michael Grimes, who is also the Managing Director of Morgan Stanley.
Grimes reached out to Musk to make him aware of SBF’s attempts to partner with the tech billionaire.
Grimes’ messages show SBF was interested in partnering with Musk even if their “Blockchain Twitter” idea did not excite Musk – the FTX founder was ready to help Musk acquire X by picking up a stake himself in the social media platform.
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Musk agreed on one condition: he was not interested in a “laborious blockchain debate” with SBF.
Grimes mentioned that SBF had verbally indicated a potential investment of up to $10 billion but later revised it to $5 billion in writing.
“He’s into you. We can push Sam to next week but I do believe you will like him,” Grimes said, trying to convince Musk to meet SBF.
Musk then questioned if Bankman-Fried even had $3 billion in liquid assets, to which Grimes responded in the affirmative.
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Bankman-Fried ultimately did not invest in X, losing interest after a phone call with Musk.
The X owner also confirmed the conversation in a post, stating that SBF “set off my bs detector, which is why I did not think he had $3B.”
Why It Matters: This incident adds to the ongoing saga of Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for his role in a market manipulation scheme.
This scheme involved the use of a trading algorithm to manipulate the price of a cryptocurrency, leading to significant financial losses for other market participants.
Bankman-Fried’s legal troubles have also included allegations of wire fraud and money laundering, which he has vehemently denied.
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