• Sam Bankman-Fried is facing new criminal charges for his alleged involvement in the FTX crime family.
• He was portrayed as a genius, but the facts reveal he was thinking zero steps ahead.
• Many of the crypto wunderkinds who ascended to fame in 2021 had leveraged relationships and theatrical self-representations to create a dumb person’s idea of what a smart person looks like.

Sam Bankman-Fried Facing New Criminal Charges

Sam Bankman-Fried is facing new criminal charges related to his alleged involvement with the FTX crime family. The charges raise further questions about Bankman-Fried’s endgame and how he expected to escape the consequences of his actions.

The Genius Cosplay

Bankman-Fried has been represented in media and among peers as some kind of genius. This narrative has also been extended to other crypto “wunderkinds”, such as Do Kwon of Terra and Su Zhu of Three Arrows Capital, who have leveraged credentials and relationships to create an impression that they are smarter than they really are.

The Reality Behind the Facade

When examined more closely, however, it becomes clear that these people were putting on an act – an impression – rather than actually possessing any great intelligence or insight into their respective fields. In fact, many have made decisions that show little forethought or long term strategy – suggesting that their “genius” might be overstated.

A Zero Step Strategy

The new charges against Bankman-Fried support this notion; his seeming attempt to curry favor in Washington D.C., for example, suggests he was not thinking too far ahead when it came to planning his escape from legal repercussions for his actions.

Conclusion

Ultimately, then, it appears that many of the crypto personalities who rose up quickly during 2021 were simply putting on a show – creating an image of genius without backing it up with actual substance or foresight into the risks they were taking with their respective projects or strategies.