Long, revealing conversation between vlogger and SBF (who says, “I never opened the code for FTX”)

Tiffany Fong, a cryptocurrency vlogger, was chosen by former FTX executive Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) for in-depth and frank phone interviews.

At the time of publication, SBF had already answered two of the most critical queries about the demise of FTX in the two interviews on YouTube.

The first interview was done on November 6 and made available on YouTube on November 29.

SBF explained why he chose the relatively unknown individual to speak to: “I've started to trust my gut on things like this.” Less than 10,000 people subscribe to Fong's channel. He referred to her as “someone who will, like, approach this from at least a somewhat neutral and interested perspective.” He went on:

"We as a society, in my opinion, my humble opinion, have spent quite enough time this week trying to figure out whether anyone living in [the FTX residential facility in] Albany [Bahamas] was polyamorous [...] and the answer is too boring for people to believe."

You don't get into the situation we got into if you, like, make all the right decisions, SBF said at the beginning of the recording.

Fong took that as a cue and asked about the “backdoor” that allowed SBF to “execute commands that could alter the [FTX] company's financial records without alerting others” at the outset of her interview.

SBF expressed shock at the concept itself. And this is what I would be doing, he questioned. “That is undoubtedly untrue, as I can attest. I have no knowledge of programming. [...] I genuinely never even opened the FTX code.”

This established the tone for the remainder of the conversation, during which Fong politely posed challenging inquiries, and SBF appeared to respond honestly.

SBF then commented on the FTT coin issued by FTX. “I believe it had genuine value. Nevertheless, there are a few issues. […] Given my past, this was f*****g embarrassing. […] In some ways, I believe it was basically more authentic than many tokens. Its economic foundation was stronger than that of the typical token,” said SBF.

SBF continued, “Illiquidity didn't cause the crash.

The reason was instead “the massive correlation of things during market moves, especially when they are triggered by fear over the position itself.”

SBF concurred with Fong that for international customers, “the recovery looks pretty slim,” whereas the U.S. is 100%. They “could already be withdrawing” if their Amazon account hadn't been disabled.

When discussing his political involvement, SBF said, “I gave roughly the same amount to each party. [...] I made dark donations to every Republican cause.” Regarding rumors that Ukrainian donations were being laundered, he said:

“The Ukraine one? I wish I could have pulled that off. I wish. I didn’t fully understand the goal of it. I was helping Ukraine launder funds for the Democratic Party? I don’t know why Ukraine is laundering funds for the Democratic Party. I don’t know how they would or why they would.”

The use of FTX customer funds by Alameda Research was discussed in SBF's second undated phone interview.

SBF had trouble putting his thoughts into words, saying that he should have considered “what a cross-scenario with high correlation looks like. It is the oldest financial game known to man. [...] At FTX, there was no single person in charge of overseeing risk positions.” Fong tried unsuccessfully to get more information about the situation.

Regarding the part played by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in the demise of FTX, SBF adopted a moderate stance. “I don't know for sure, but things would probably be a lot more stable, and there would be a lot more ability to generate liquidity.”

When questioned about how the scandal surrounding FTX's demise affected him, SBF responded, “I have hours each day to reflect on what happened as I awaken and think about it. […] It's not how other people perceive it to be.”