Michael Lewis’s new book about the disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried began as an act of due diligence. In a story recounted in the first chapter, Lewis received a call in late 2021 from a financier friend who was considering a major deal with FTX, Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange. But the friend’s corporate counterpart was a cipher. Could Lewis check out Bankman-Fried, whom Forbes had just crowned “the world’s richest 29-year-old,” and report back?
Lewis met Bankman-Fried for a hike near Lewis’s Berkeley, California, home. He was charmed and puzzled by Bankman-Fried’s shabby-billionaire persona, the idea that a guy who looks like he just fell out of bed might control the future of finance. He was also intrigued by Bankman-Fried’s embrace of a philosophy called “effective altruism,” which called for him to make as much money as possible in order to then give it all away.
