SBF Escalates Pro-Trump Rhetoric After Caroline Ellison's Prison Release
In a flurry of posts on X, FTX's disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried praised Donald Trump's cryptocurrency stance while criticizing Joe Biden for mishandling the crypto sector.
The fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the now-defunct FTX exchange, has intensified his public support for US president Donald Trump on social media while simultaneously criticizing former president Joe Biden. This flurry of activity comes mere days following the release of Caroline Ellison from federal prison, the ex-CEO of Alameda Research.
Following Bankman-Fried's interview with the New York Sun in February 2025 and his subsequent March discussion with political commentator Tucker Carlson, numerous observers believe Bankman-Fried is positioning himself for a potential presidential pardon from Trump.
In a Friday post on X, Bankman-Fried declared that "@realdonaldtrump is right on crypto." This statement came shortly after Ellison regained her freedom, having completed 440 days of incarceration for her involvement in FTX's catastrophic 2022 downfall.
Bankman-Fried calls Trump's arrest of Maduro "smart" and "gutsy"
Beyond cryptocurrency matters, Bankman-Fried extended his praise of Trump to other policy areas, specifically highlighting the recent detention of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He characterized this action as "smart, gutsy, and pro-democracy."
Simultaneously, Bankman-Fried directed criticism toward the prior administration, an ironic turn given that he had previously contributed millions of dollars in political donations to support it.
"All the world leaders I met were fed up with Biden," he said, adding that he "bungled crypto."
According to Bankman-Fried, Biden "didn't have to" mishandle cryptocurrency policy because there was "plenty in the party had reasonable thoughts." "But he chose [Gary] Gensler for SEC chair," Bankman-Fried said.
Under Gensler's leadership, the Securities and Exchange Commission pursued a "regulation before enforcement" strategy regarding cryptocurrency, before he resigned in January 2025, just prior to Trump's presidential inauguration.
Prediction platform odds for a Bankman-Fried pardon sit at 17%
Paul Atkins, who replaced Gensler as SEC chair and took his oath of office under Trump in April 2025, is generally perceived within the cryptocurrency sector as significantly more supportive of digital assets.
After FTX's spectacular collapse in November 2022, authorities in the United States arranged for Bankman-Fried's extradition from the Bahamas to stand trial on multiple charges, including fraud and money laundering. In November 2023, a jury found the former chief executive guilty on seven felony charges, and in March 2024, a judge handed down a 25-year prison sentence.
Bankman-Fried filed an appeal challenging both his conviction and his sentence in November 2025 and currently awaits a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
On Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based predictions platform, traders are currently pricing in only a 17% probability that Trump will grant Bankman-Fried a pardon before 2027.