In Catching Up To FTX: Lessons Learned In My Crusade Against Corruption, Fraud, and Bad Hair , cryptocurrency veteran and industry insider Ben Armstrong delivers the compelling and fascinating story of the collapse of FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried--better known by his initials, SBF. In this book, you'll discover that the signs of fraud were readily available to many of the firm's evangelists, as well as a blow-by-blow analysis of FTX's collapse over a 10-day period in November of 2022. From the author's firsthand account of what he saw in the Bahamas when SBF was extradited to the United States to face a variety of criminal and regulatory charges to the latest developments in the case, you'll get an insider's look at the Shakespearean tragedy behind the fall of one of the crypto industry's largest exchanges. Armstrong dives deep into the history of cryptocurrency and crypto exchanges, describing the tendency of many of the industry's large, initial exchanges to go down in flames amidst allegations of widespread fraud and graft. He goes on to explain how the same fate befell FTX and Alameda Research and the impact those implosions had on investors, ordinary people, and financial industry titans. The author also discusses the importance of decentralization to the ethos of the Bitcoin community, and how Sam Bankman-Fried defied that belief, advocating (at least in public) for greater centralization and regulation of crypto technologies and currencies. He explains why this made many suspect the motives animating SBF's actions, and why--for many--FTX's fate was not terribly surprising. An extraordinary and engrossing tale of greed, hubris, and corruption, Catching Up To FTX is a must-read recounting of one of modern history's largest and most flagrant frauds.

It will earn a place in the libraries of finance professionals, crypto enthusiasts and investors, and anyone else with an interest in larger-than-life personalities and stories with high stakes and even higher drama.