On Tuesday evening, a verified X account belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the jailed founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, posted a short greeting — “gm,” shorthand for good morning in crypto circles.
The post immediately raised eyebrows, as inmates in U.S. federal prisons are not permitted to have direct access to social media. Later, the account clarified in a reply that SBF was not posting himself and that a friend was managing the account on his behalf.
FTT token surges
The sudden activity on SBF’s account coincided with a sharp rally in FTT, the native token of FTX. At the time of writing, FTT was trading at $1.10, up nearly 32% in 24 hours. Trading volumes spiked sixfold, from about $10.4 million to $59 million, according to CoinGecko data.
Once used for fee discounts and collateral on FTX, the token lost much of its utility after the exchange’s November 2022 bankruptcy. However, it continues to draw speculative interest during the ongoing estate liquidation.
SBF’s legal and prison status
Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year federal sentence after being convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for diverting billions in customer funds and misleading investors. His recent activity on X marks his first public online presence in months. Previously, he had shared posts about layoffs, workplace challenges, and even joked about avoiding emails for days. He also thanked Tucker Carlson for a prison interview earlier this year.
Lawsuit and creditor payouts
Earlier Tuesday, the FTX Recovery Trust filed a lawsuit against Genesis Digital Assets, seeking to claw back $1.1 billion in alleged preferential payments made before FTX’s collapse. The lawsuit comes just ahead of the estate’s third creditor distribution on September 30, which will see about $1.6 billion disbursed to verified claimants.
