VOA新闻杂志2022--加密货币平台FTX宣布破产

What Is Happening at FTX Cryptocurrency Exchange

FTX was one of the world's largest exchanges for digital money called cryptocurrency. FTX's problems worsened over the weekend and threatened the entire industry.

Sam Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019. He grew the trading firm quickly by attracting the biggest investors¹ in Silicon² Valley.

Last week, FTX declared bankruptcy³. Bankman-Fried resigned. The firm said some money had disappeared. And experts say hundreds of millions of dollars may have been lost.

The collapse⁴ of FTX is a shock to the cryptocurrency industry, which has seen a fair number of problems this year.

Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, has dropped about 65 percent in value for the year. And Ether, the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency, lost 20 percent over the last weekend, CoinDesk data showed on Monday.

Why did FTX go bankrupt?

Investors fled FTX last week over fears about whether the firm had enough money. And FTX agreed to sell itself to another crypto exchange Binance. But the deal collapsed⁵ while Binance was researching FTX's finances.

Last Friday, FTX and several connected companies filed for bankruptcy. The firm had valued itself between $10 billion to $50 billion. It listed more than 130 partner companies around the world, its bankruptcy filing said.

And Bankman-Fried who had rescued several cryptocurrency companies also resigned as chief executive of FTX.

Was it hacked⁷?

On Saturday, FTX said there had been "unauthorized access" to its accounts, just hours after the bankruptcy filing. A debate started on social media about whether the exchange was hacked or a company member had stolen money.

Exactly how much money involved is unclear. But analytics company Elliptic estimated Saturday that $477 million was missing from the exchange. FTX's new chief John Ray III said it was stopping any trade or withdrawal⁸ and taking steps to secure investors' money.

Is my bitcoin safe?

Cory Klippsten is the head of financial services company Swan Bitcoin. He said people who own bitcoin should be fine if they keep them off exchanges like FTX. He said they work like a crypto "gambling⁹ website."

"Any exchange is a security risk," said Klippsten. Some operate better than others, but he said a better choice is to take control of your digital assets. With bitcoin, it is possible to take coins off the exchange, he said.

Is FTX under investigation¹⁰?

On Sunday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said it is investigating FTX, adding to the company's problems. The company had moved its headquarters to the Caribbean country last year.

Even before the bankruptcy filing and missing money, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission began examining FTX. The agencies were looking into whether any criminal activity or financial crimes were committed, a person familiar with issue told The Associated Press.

What will happen next?

The outcome of FTX's bankruptcy is uncertain. But its failure will likely result in the destruction of billions of dollars of wealth and create even more doubts about cryptocurrencies.

Sequoia¹¹ Capital has invested in several successful companies that became Apple, Cisco, Google, Airbnb and YouTube. It described its meeting with Bankman-Fried as "talking to the world's first trillionaire" and decided¹² to invest in FTX.

After FTX filed bankruptcy, Sequoia has since written down its $213 million in investments to zero. And a pension fund in Ontario, Canada also wrote down its investment to zero.

Bankman-Fried had been the subject of some criticism before FTX collapsed. He largely operated FTX out of U.S. oversight¹³ from his headquarters in The Bahamas. But Bankman-Fried spoke¹⁴ about the need for more regulation of the cryptocurrency industry.

Many supporters of crypto oppose government oversight. Now, FTX's collapse may have helped make the case for closer regulation.

Words in This Story

exchange — n. an occurrence in which people give things of similar value to each other

unauthorized — adj. without permission

access — n. a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone

hack⁶ — n. to secretly get access to the files on a computer or network in order to get information, cause damage, etc.

gamble — v. to play a game in which you can win or lose money or possessions

pension — n. an amount of money that a company or the government pays to a person who is old or sick and no longer works

regulation — n. an official rule or law that says how something should be done

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

7 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

8 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

9 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 sequoia   

n.红杉

参考例句：

• The sequoia national forest is at the southern end of the sierra nevada range.红杉国家公园位于内华达山脉南端尽头处。
• The photo shows the enormous general Sherman tree in California's sequoia national park.照片显示的是加利福尼亚州红杉国家公园内巨大的谢尔曼将军树。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。