The bewildering alternative universe of crypto currency which makes hedge fund derivatives look sane in comparison has taken a knock with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.
Bankman-Fried, a week ago was among the most respected figures in the sector with a $24bn personal fortune and close links with Wall Street and celebrities. He advertised during the US Super Bowl, was a leading donor to the Democratic party and spent tens of millions of dollars over the past year trying to reshape how Washington and the world think about finance and his crypto exchange. The company he founded FTX, had become an industry-dominating business in just three years, valued at $32 billion as recently as January. It had less than $1bn in easily sellable assets against $9bn in liabilities before it went bankrupt last week.
The Washington Post remarked: “Just a few months ago, Bankman-Fried was toasted as crypto’s Warren Buffett; now he’s drawing comparisons to convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes.”
He was born 6 March 1992 with two Stanford University law academic parents and is a Sun Pisces in a confident, expansive opposition to Jupiter, trine an influential Pluto and sextile Uranus Neptune in Capricorn. The Uranus Neptune marks him out as a poster-child of his generation – highly-strung, inventive, not always good at listening to advice. He also has a hard-edged, determined and unsentimental Saturn Mars conjunct in Aquarius with Venus nearby.
His 10th harmonic is the strongest – it refers to the wheel of fortune – what rises high also falls low.
If his birth date is accurate then the full impact of his failure may not become obvious for a few months or there will be significant repercussions. From March 2023 onwards he has tr Pluto in Aquarius bearing down on his Mars/Uranus and Mars/Neptune midpoint and his Saturn/Uranus and Saturn/Neptune midpoints. Followed in 2024/25 by his Solar Arc Mars Saturn conjunct his Sun.
FTX was founded on 8 May 2019 in the Bahamas/Antigua giving it a Taurus Sun which caught the recent Lunar Eclipse. It was trine the tough and can-be-self-destructive Saturn Pluto in Capricorn, which had moved by Solar Arc to close the conjunction this year. There was also an ‘adventurous’, risk-taking Mars opposition Jupiter square an unrealistic/slippery Neptune. Mars Jupiter in hard aspect can be associated with the misuse of others’ money and is being undermined by tr Neptune in square this year and next.
Pluto in Capricorn started with hedge funders running riot and tripping up and may well be about to finish with the next generation of money magicians falling flat on their face.
FTX collapsed on the lunar eclipe of 8 Nov, which seems to have hit the Sun in the FTX chart.
According to the FT, Bankman-Fried was the second largest donor to the Democrats – he gave $36 million to Dems contesting the mid-terms.
I don’t know what the rules are in the US – do politicians receiving stolen money have to return it?
Often politicians choose to return money from questionable or undesirable sources — as Gov. Gavin Newsom chose to return a donation from Harvey Weinstein after he’d learned Weinstein had raped his wife. But generally there’s no blanket legal requirement.
Seems crypto is like a fantasy currency
I actually fear our politicians more as they seem to command the printing of money at will, without the assets to back them up. The government seem to believe that the taxpayer has a bottomless pocket, there is rarely a word of gratitude from them.
‘Pluto in Capricorn started with hedge funders running riot and tripping up and may well be about to finish with the next generation of money magicians falling flat on their face.’
One can only hope so, especially given the upside downside fad driven Neptune in Pisces driving Pluto in sextile.
Thanks Marjorie – ” Pluto in Capricorn started with hedge funders running riot and tripping up and may well be about to finish with the next generation of money magicians falling flat on their face.”
Well, the madness of crowds crops up again and again! I thought of the Tulip Mania collapse of February 1637, and the collective delusion of tulip contract trading, in which no actual bulbs changed hands. In February 1637 Saturn in Capricorn was square Uranus in Libra. Neptune was 18 Scorpio, Pluto 26 Taurus. Plenty of money and banking signs there. The nodes were 4 Aquarius/Leo, and Saturn sextile Neptune.
For the equally febrile South Sea Bubble collapse of 1720, I just looked at the date for the post collapse Bubble Act of 11 June 1720 which said there must be no joint stock companies without a royal charter. Interesting to see the Moon’s Nodes, this time at 10 Leo/Aquarius. Uranus again in Libra. Neptune was 21 Taurus, opposing Saturn at 19 Scorpio (other people’s money?) – sensitive degrees of those financial signs in our own era, and sensitive degrees in 1637 too. Neptune trined Jupiter and Pluto in Virgo.
I can see resonances with these charts for FTX and Samuel Bankman-Fried. I also wonder about the Uranus/Mars/Nodes conjunction of summer 2022 in financial, stability-loving Taurus. A financial upheaval and sudden actions (Uranus/Mars) for the collective, people, or ‘masses’ represented by the Nodes? It aspected SBF and, widely, FTX charts, and was then triggered again by this recent Lunar Eclipse.
Oops. I meant the other way around – FTX Sun 17 Taurus, SBF natal Venus Mars Saturn in Aquarius, square Pluto in Scorpio.
Also, perhaps worth noting the DotCom bubble which began in 1995. At its peak, in March 2000 it had Saturn in Taurus square Uranus at 18 Aquarius. The square was exact in May, at 20 degrees of those signs. There was also a square between Jupiter in early Taurus, and Neptune at 5 Aquarius. The Nodes were in Leo/Aquarius.
Thanks for the analysis Marjorie.
The whole set up of FTX and its associated companies is very unusual with most of the leading figures apparently sharing a Penthouse in the Bahamas. The one thing I noted immediately in SBF chart is that he is from the Pluto in Scorpio generation and it would appear that most of his victims will belong younger investors. Both the traditional malefics Mars and Saturn are conjunct at 13 Aquarius in his birth chart and will have been activated by a square to the the lunar eclipse. Uranus and Neptune conjunct in Capricorn could indicate someone who does not play by the traditional rules. He was a bit of a poster child for many crypto currency fans some of whom regarded him with an almost cult like idolisation. The reality was that like some Pisces he might have been a wolf in sheeps clothing. Certainly his cultivated geeky image masked the truth that he actually came from a finance background and had worked as an ETF trader at Janet Street Capital before setting up FTX. Certainly he would have known how to manipulate the business so he could siphon off depositors crypto currency to fund his associated Hedge Fund Alameda. There are some similarities with Bernie Madoff in that he was often held in high regard by the very people who were being fleeced. Of course, the luck and the money eventually ran out as recent events have shown. The failure of FTX may be a storm warning of further problems coming to light in the world of tech finance as Pluto works its way to Aquarius.
I agree, Hugh, that this could be a ‘storm warning of further problems’ – and not only in the world of tech finance, but across the current internet-based world of commerce and trade in general.
The DotCom bubble phenomenon began to build in 1995. Ebay, for instance, began on 3rd September, 1995 with Pluto in late Scorpio, Saturn 22 Pisces. Amazon began on 5th July, 1994, Pluto 25 Scorpio, Saturn 12 Pisces. So these, and other early successes, are awaiting their first Saturn return in 2024-5. Along with a potentially disruptive tr Uranus opposing their founding ‘wealthy’ Pluto in Scorpio.
It’s also interesting to see that in 1995 Uranus entered techie Aquarius, and Pluto entered Sagittarius – perhaps together reflecting the idealism, sense of freedom, and feeling that wide horizons beckoned across cyber-space at that time.The Saturn into Pisces, and Pluto into Aquarius sign changes next year test, or challenge, those long ago – or should I say long-lost – ideals.
@Jane, first Uranus ingress to Gemini will be July 7th, 2025. It will take almost a year before it will stabilize to the sign, but it has long been speculated by astrologer Uranus in Gemini/ Pluto in Aquarius will be wild time for tech. Maybe they will fix some of the issues that have risen in the past few years with conservative Uranus in Taurus.
I studied business 6 years ago and read maybe a dozen of reports and white papers on innovation diffusion. And if we were to believe those papers, self driving vehicle development should be much further than it is, and use should be at “early adaptation” stage. But here I am, with small vehicles looking like vacuum cleaners and able to carry 2 l bottle of soda at the most, failing to restart at streetlights in case there isn’t an adult human crossing at the same time as the apex of innovation! 😀
Ha! I’m enjoying imagining the vacuum cleaner vehicles bumbling along! Yes, it always seems to take a long time for things to go mainstream doesn’t it? A good (depressing) example could be the electric powered vehicle.
– The first electric vehicle was invented in 1832 by Robert Anderson. Uranus in Aquarius, Pluto in Aries.
– The first production line electric car was made in 1884 in London. That year Uranus moved from Virgo to Libra. Pluto moved from Taurus to Gemini. So that mirrors the airy Uranus in Gemini/Pluto in Aquarius you mention, and ‘a wild time for tech’.
– The first small fleet of ‘luxury’ electric taxis were on London streets in 1897. When we had, by December that year, Uranus in Sagittarius, Saturn in Sagittarius, Neptune in Gemini, and Pluto in Gemini. A total ‘travelling’ signs bonanza there I think!
Sadly, the lucrative oil market took over. Even though electric cars were popular, and often marketed ‘for ladies’ (!), the market for them declined by about the late 1920’s – Uranus Pisces/Aries, Pluto in Cancer.
And here we are, a century later……
I don’t even understand cryptocurrency but am fascinated by this story. From billions to bankruptcy, that’s quite a downturn for (a) Bankman who is experiencing a challenging financial transit (T Saturn conjunct-square his natal Venus-Pluto square).