If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When Sam Bankman-Fried Was Arrested, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Former FTX CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday in a highly publicized criminal fraud case.

Here's a look back at the downfall of FTX and Bankman-Fried and how much you could have made buying Bitcoin BTC/USD when the cryptocurrency personality was arrested and the sector was falling.

What Happened: Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven counts of criminal fraud in November 2023 and faced up to 110 years in prison.

Bankman-Fried will now spend 25 years in prison for his role in the collapse of FTX and the misuse of customer funds.

At its peak, FTX was one of the leading cryptocurrency platforms, used by consumers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. It was later alleged that the company had misused customer funds and the valuation of the company's FTX Token FTT/USD saw a massive drop after an article showing the company's balance sheet and the sale of the token by rival Binance.

In November 2022, FTX declared bankruptcy, which came less than a year after the company was valued at $32 billion.

Bankman-Fried saw his wealth dramatically fall from $15.6 billion to $1 billion at the time, losing 94% of his wealth in one day in one of the largest drops in history. Bankman-Fried, who was worth $26 billion at his peak, was later valued at $0 by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The former FTX CEO was arrested on Dec. 12, 2022 in the Bahamas after criminal charges were announced against him by the U.S.

The price of Bitcoin was highly volatile during the FTX events, with drops happening after the bankruptcy of FTX and after Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud. Those who invested at key moments of panic have enjoyed sizable returns on their investments.

Related Link: If You Invested $100 In Bitcoin After Crypto Was First Mentioned On Television, Here’s How Much You’d Have Now

Investing $1,000 in Bitcoin: The price of Bitcoin had a previous all-time high of nearly $69,000 in 2021 and was among the leading cryptocurrencies for the year.

In 2022, cryptocurrency continued to attract significant attention from investors and consumers, until the bankruptcy of several crypto companies triggered a sharp decline in the prices of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

On Dec. 12, 2022, when Bankman-Fried was arrested, Bitcoin traded at an intraday high of $17,212.56. An investor who bought $1,000 of Bitcoin when the former FTX was arrested could have purchased 0.0581 BTC.

The $1,000 investment would be worth $4,114.17 today based on a price of $70,811.96 for Bitcoin at the time of writing.

This represents a hypothetical return of 311.4% over the last year since Bankman-Fried's arrest.

The sentencing of Bankman-Fried could put to an end one of the most negative moments for the cryptocurrency sector in recent years.

Bitcoin hit an all-time high in March 2024 of $73,750.07 with the launch of Bitcoin ETFs and strong inflows leading to positive sentiment for the apex cryptocurrency.

History has shown that Bitcoin doesn’t trade in a straight line and can be highly volatile around events in the sector. Investors who recognized a potential recovery in the price of Bitcoin after Bankman-Fried was arrested have been pleasantly rewarded.  

This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.

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