The ex-crypto billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), had pledged to donate much of his fortune, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports. His philanthropic dreams couldn’t see the light of the day owing to FTX Foundation, Future Fund (FF), and FTX’s abrupt demise.
Reporting on the topic in question, the WSJ tweeted:
When Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire went down in flames, so did his plans to save the world https://t.co/xBm4SqflRx
— WSJ Markets (@WSJmarkets) November 24, 2022
Preventing nuclear war and mitigating potential pandemics were SBF’s reported public pledges. But much of his fortune (missing or stolen) is in fumes now.
Meanwhile, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) evolutionary engineer, Kevin Esvelt, is now struggling for funds to support SecureBio—a pandemic defense nonprofit. An early applicant to the FTX Foundation’s FF fund, Mr. Esvelt is Future Fund’s $1.2 million grant awardee.
Narrating his plight, Mr. Esvelt states,
This is something of a tragedy for people who were hoping philanthropy could step up and fill the gap in addressing the catastrophic risks that government isn’t nimble enough to deal with.
Unfortunately yet expectedly, the Future Fund’s key staff executives have now resigned, per reports.
SBF, though, claimed on the “80,000 hours” podcast that philanthropy is where his heart truly dwells. He reasons that the values of utilitarianism is what he has been instilled with by his law-academic parents.
He began preaching utilitarianism while studying physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Will MacAskill suggested SBF to follow the philosophy of effective altruism to shape his philanthropic endeavors.
Rob Reich, professor (political science), Stanford University, says,
Effective altruists say you should use reason to compare causes and find the thing that can get you the highest return.
Charting his dreams of walking the noble philanthropic path, SBF reportedly wanted to make hefty money just to give it all away for good.
This turned out to be the philosophy of launching Alameda Research. Eventually, SBF founded the FTX exchange, followed by FTX Foundation, Future Fund, and Building A Stronger Future (family foundation).
Eradicating the pandemic and safeguarding from the potential artificial intelligence (AI) dangers were the causes supported by the FTX Foundation. Interestingly, grantees were given the option of receiving their funds either in dollars or crypto.
As stated on its website, by September, the Future Fund had pledged over $160 million. These investments were meant for altruist organizations, startups, and “exceptional people.” Two altruist organizations were granted $15 million and $13.9 million in grants.
But many other recipients couldn’t quite receive their committed grants. In fact, an FF staff member wrote in a November 2022 public resignation letter:
We are devastated to say that it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor.
Building A Stronger Future granted ProPublica, an institution reporting on biothreats and effective pandemic readiness, a $5 million grant.
ProPublica did receive “first third” of the grant money in February, per WSJ, But it is now left to approach other organizations for funds now.
But ultimately Mr. MacAskill expressed dislike towards SBF’s anti-effective altruism conduct in a series of tweets. The former accused SBF of negating the core principles of effective altruism plus personal betrayal.
In SBF’s communication with a Vox writer, the latter states,
You were really good at talking about ethics.
To which, SBF responded,
I had to be. This dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shiboleths [sic.] and so everyone likes us.
