Former FTX.US President Reveals: The Story I Have to Tell About FTX

Original author: Brett Harrison

Compiled by: Moni, Planet Daily

Last September, FTX US President Brett Harrison announced his resignation on his personal social media platform. With the initiation of the FTX bankruptcy case, he recently shared on social media how he navigated that dark time and the irreconcilable conflicts with SBF. Odaily Planet Daily compiles the content as follows:

Many people have asked me about my situation at FTX US and the reasons for my departure. In fact, I addressed these issues earlier this week, and I am glad to publicly share my experiences and perspectives.

I worked at FTX US for 17 months, and when my resignation was made public, those who were unaware of the situation were quite surprised. Some questioned whether I had been fired, and they did not understand why I had such a short tenure in what seemed like an ideal job. In reality, working at FTX US was not as "ideal" as portrayed in the industry and media, and my departure was not sudden.

I had a poor relationship with SBF and his deputies regarding management practices at FTX, and after months of disputes, it ultimately deteriorated significantly.

Moreover, as my friends, mentors, and investors knew at the time, I had already decided to start my own company, and it was not worth being trapped in a so-called "dream job." So, I set aside the negative factors such as reputation, compensation, and risks to my reputation, and resolutely decided to leave FTX US.

Why Did I Choose to Join FTX US?

Let’s go back to late March 2021, when SBF invited me to join FTX US via text message (which seemed a bit casual). SBF was a former colleague of mine at Jane Street, and I have fond memories of working with him back then. However, we had hardly been in touch over the years, though I occasionally kept up with some news about FTX. So, when I saw his text, I was pleased and interested in exploring more about FTX. I knew that SBF was a diligent junior trader when he worked at Jane Street, where I was responsible for teaching programming courses to traders, and SBF was one of my students who performed exceptionally well. I remember that during a manager meeting evaluating SBF's performance, many senior traders expressed that he had great potential and promise. Besides, SBF seemed to be a sensitive and curious person who cared about animals, which I liked about him.

The negotiations to join FTX US progressed very quickly, whereas every step I took in traditional finance recruitment typically took 4-6 months. In 2017, I developed software for Jane Street's crypto services platform, but I had not worked in crypto since then, so I was excited to dive back in. In the first few months at FTX US, I felt fantastic because my work was largely independent of SBF, and I aimed to build a team dedicated to serving the U.S. market and create a professional environment prepared for regulated enterprises.

At that time, I worked with the LedgerX team to establish legal, compliance, and operations departments and hired top-notch employees. I began to build and develop a retail brokerage firm regulated in the U.S. The market share of the FTX US spot exchange was also growing, and the entire team was dedicated and productive, with positive customer feedback. I was incredibly excited about the future of FTX US.

Escalating Conflicts with SBF and Bahamian Executives

However, from the very beginning, I noticed that SBF was rarely involved in U.S. operations but would influence decisions at FTX US. About six months into my time at FTX US, a noticeable rift began to form between SBF and me. It was around that time that I strongly advocated for separating the executive, legal, and development teams of FTX US from FTX to maintain independence, but SBF disagreed.

In that early conflict, I saw that SBF had no sense of security when his decisions were questioned, and it was difficult to compromise with him; sometimes SBF was malicious and unpredictable. I realized that SBF was no longer the person I remembered, and I was unsure what had caused such a significant change in him. Like many of us, my family and friends might have issues with addiction and mental health, and I had seen these issues manifest in SBF without warning. I thought this might be a contributing factor and initially felt sympathy. However, my personal understanding of SBF was limited, and I had no time to contemplate this issue; I had a business relationship with him, and he made many decisions about running the company that I disagreed with.

To be frank, disagreeing with SBF's views came with immense pressure, but I did it anyway. At that time, and throughout my tenure at FTX US, I found SBF's influence over the media, FTX's partners, the venture capital industry, and traditional finance to be pervasive and aggressive. In any case, it was hard for people to tolerate a manager who was insecure and arrogant. Because every day, every major voice in traditional corporate culture and business environment would thunderously suggest that if you disagreed with your leader, you must be wrong.

I was not the only one at FTX US who disagreed with SBF and his inner circle. FTX US had experienced professionals from U.S. financial firms, law firms, and regulated exchanges. However, the collective experience and professional acumen of FTX were often dismissed as irrelevant and worthless, which was incredibly frustrating for all of us.

In the following months, I further advocated for reasonable hiring policies to equip FTX US with experienced senior management and hoped for transparent communication between SBF and the leadership of FTX US, including formally defining the software development responsibilities of Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, delegating management responsibilities and control to SBF and Bahamian executives, and other important matters.

However, SBF felt uneasy about managing conflicts, and he began to respond with hostility, ultimately choosing to isolate me from key decision-making and communication, which felt terrible. So, I wanted to know the information about the decisions they were making behind my back; I was desperate inside but tried hard not to show it on the surface. In early April 2022, which was my eleventh month at FTX US, I made one last attempt and submitted a formal written complaint about what I believed to be the biggest organizational issue hindering FTX's future success. I wrote that if the issue was not resolved, I would resign.

I threatened SBF that I would claim I was fired and that SBF would ruin my professional reputation, but ultimately I was ordered to formally retract what I had written and apologize to SBF, which solidified my decision to leave FTX. I knew that a sudden departure would be harmful to the company, so I wanted to prepare the best I could for the company's future success after I left. Thus, I gradually focused my energy on completing the construction and launch of the U.S. brokerage firm.

After that, I began to shift my attention to the future and my own company.

Parting Ways with FTX US

Now, based on information in public records (from lawsuits, complaints, guilty pleas, or others), it is clear that FTX had many issues.

At that time, I raised these concerns within the company. I saw that FTX had management and organizational problems, which are typical issues that arise during the growth of startups. As an experienced financial services executive, my role was to correct these issues and initiate the next phase of the company's development.

In my career, I had seen these issues in other more mature companies, and in fact, these problems were not fatal to business success; but I really did not expect that behind FTX's issues lay billions of dollars in fraud.

It is clear from the public content that the implementation of the fraudulent scheme was closely controlled by SBF and his inner circle at FTX.com and Alameda, and I was not part of it, nor were other executives at FTX US.

Now, I understand why they were so careful to conceal criminal activities from us because FTX US had a broad professional network, communication channels with U.S. regulators, and the power to engage with U.S. media. If any of us suspected fraudulent activities, we would have reported it immediately.

During my 17 months at FTX US, my colleagues and I did our utmost to meet customer needs and develop the business grounded in reality, providing consumers with a fairer access to financial services that are crucial to their lives, and I came to understand a fact: greed and fraud destroy trust and accelerate corruption.

After I left FTX US, until November 2022, every conversation I had with venture capitalists about my new company eventually circled back to the same few questions: "Is FTX investing? Does SBF approve of you doing this? Do you mind if we check with him?" But after FTX's bankruptcy, the questions from venture capitalists turned into avoidance: "We know you weren't involved in what SBF and the others did, but we can't take the PR risk of associating ourselves with FTX, no matter how capable you are or how compelling your ideas are."

In the past few months, I conducted a valuable character study of the crypto industry, and the results were very clear: some people changed overnight, while others easily expressed sympathy and support.

Undoubtedly, working at FTX US was an unforgettable experience, but I found there were also wild and unfounded accusations against me on social media.

During the tumultuous past two months, I sincerely thank those who have given me steadfast trust and support, helping me filter out the noise and continue to focus on the future. Now, the road ahead is gradually becoming clear, and I am happy to move forward with them.