Share this article

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Signs Billionaires’ Giving Pledge

The crypto billionaire has promised to give away the majority of his wealth to philanthropic causes.

Updated May 11, 2023, 5:44 p.m. Published Jun 1, 2022, 9:48 p.m.
Sam Bankman-Fried speaks at Crypto Bahamas 2022. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
Sam Bankman-Fried speaks at Crypto Bahamas 2022. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has signed the Giving Pledge, a public commitment taken by the world’s richest people and families to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropy either in their lifetimes or in their wills.

Bankman-Fried’s fortune is valued at $21 billion by Forbes, making him among the wealthiest individuals minted by the crypto market boom.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

The bulk of Bankman-Fried’s wealth comes from his equity stake in crypto exchange FTX. FTX last closed a $400 million fundraising round in January, which valued the company at $32 billion.

“A while ago I became convinced that our duty was to do the most we could for the long run aggregate utility of the world,” wrote Bankman-Fried in his pledge letter. “In the end, it’s the work my friends and colleagues at foundations do that matters the most.”

The billionaire crypto founder is a longtime effective altruist, a philosophy that advocates for maximizing the amount of good generated when considering donations to charity.

In recent years, Bankman-Fried has built up a reputation for writing big checks, most notably donating to political campaigns. This includes a record-setting $12 million to fund effective altruism-aligned candidate Carrick Flynn. Last month, Flynn lost in the Oregon Democratic congressional primaries.

To date, the FTX Foundation, FTX’s philanthropic arm, has earmarked $21.8 million to charity.

Coinbase (COIN) founder Brian Armstrong, worth an estimated $2.8 billion, signed the pledge in 2018.

Founded in 2010, the Giving Pledge was created by Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda Gates together with investor Warren Buffet to encourage greater giving from the ultra-wealthy.

To date, the pledge counts 230 signatories from 28 different countries. Other prominent pledgers include Meta (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg, BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo and Tesla’s (TSLS) CEO Elon Musk.

jwp-player-placeholder

Read more: FTX’s Bankman-Fried Pitches CFTC on Directly Clearing Customers’ Crypto Swaps

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Coinbase rolls out stock trading, prediction markets and more in bid to become the ‘Everything Exchange’

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (Coinbase)

Coinbase is dramatically expanding the assets available to trade on its platform, including novel cryptocurrencies, perpetual futures, stocks and prediction markets, starting with Kalshi.

What to know:

  • Coinbase is expanding offerings on its platform, introducing hundreds of top stocks based on market cap, trading volume, etc, with plans to add thousands of additional stocks and ETFs over the coming months.
  • Coinbase users will also be able to trade on the outcomes of real-world events like elections, sports, collectibles, and economic indicators, starting with Kalshi and more to be integrated over time.
  • A new AI-driven wealth management advisory service has been introduced, as well as Coinbase Business to help startups and small businesses incorporate crypto.