Sam Bankman-Fried’s X Account Awakens, Sends FTT Token Soaring

On Tuesday evening, Sam Bankman-Fried’s verified X account posted a two-letter greeting, “gm,” short for “good morning.”

While the greeting has become a familiar catchphrase in the crypto community, SBF’s message drew immediate attention because inmates in U.S. federal prisons are not supposed to have direct access to social media.

The account later clarified in a reply that SBF himself is not posting, and that a friend was doing so on his behalf, after this story went live.

FTT, the native token of the now-bankrupt FTX exchange, is trading at around $1.10 at the time of writing, up roughly 32% over the past 24 hours. Daily trading volume has surged almost sixfold, from approximately $10.4 million to nearly $59 million, according to data on CoinGecko.

Once used to cut fees and serve as collateral on FTX, the token lost its core utility after the exchange’s November 2022 bankruptcy. It continues to draw speculative trading interest during the estate’s liquidation process.

SBF, founder and former CEO of the shuttered FTX exchange, is serving a 25-year federal sentence after being convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for siphoning off billions in customer funds from the exchange and misleading investors about its finances.

He last tweeted at length months earlier in a series of posts reflecting on layoffs, workplace challenges, and even government bureaucracy, writing about the difficulty of firing employees, expressing sympathy for those facing unemployment, and joking about not checking emails for days.

A week later, he thanked former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for a prison interview.

Earlier on Tuesday, the FTX Recovery Trust filed a lawsuit against Bitcoin mining firm Genesis Digital Assets, seeking to claw back $1.1 billion. The lawsuit alleges that the company received preferential payments in the months leading up to the exchange’s collapse.

The move comes just days before the estate is set to begin its third major creditor distribution on September 30, which will release about $1.6 billion to verified claimants.

Tweets from prison

SBF was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island in Los Angeles in April, after 18 months at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Under the Bureau of Prisons’ rules, federal inmates may use TRULINCS, a secure messaging system that allows text‐only communication (no attachments) with approved contacts. The system is monitored and screened, and does not grant access to the wider internet.

Possession or use of a contraband cellphone is strictly prohibited, and if discovered, it can lead to disciplinary action, including solitary confinement or docking of “good conduct time.”

Some inmates’ attorneys attempt to post statements: the inmate sends a text or letter to someone outside, who then posts it to their social media handles.

Decrypt reached out to Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense counsel at Shapiro Arato Bach LLP, as well as officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons and FCI Terminal Island, for comment on the “gm” post but did not immediately receive a response.

Editor’s note: Additional details on who tweeted from SBF’s official account were later added to this story.