FTX’s ad [on Super Bowl LVI (2022)] featured comedian and actor Larry David (in his first appearance in a commercial) in period costume dismissing various technological and societal achievements in history, including the wheel, American independence, Edison’s incandescent light bulb, the Walkman, and finally, cryptocurrency. The ad was directed by Jeff Schaffer, whom David had worked with in the past on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Ironically, the company would go bankrupt later that year.
FTX Trading Ltd., commonly known as FTX (short for “Futures Exchange”), is a bankrupt company that formerly operated a cryptocurrency exchange and crypto hedge fund. The exchange was founded in 2019 and, at its peak in July 2021, had over one million users and was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume.
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. On 11 November 2022, FTX Trading Ltd., a cryptocurrency exchange, which also operated a crypto hedge fund, and had been valued at $18 billion, filed for bankruptcy.
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right.