• Sam Bankman Fried built a crypto trading empire that was worth nearly $30 billion within a matter of years.
• The founder, a 29-year-old man, has worked tirelessly for many years in pursuit of his dream to become a major philanthropist.
• These five key takeaways are from Insider's profile of Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's Sam Bankman.
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Sam Bankman-Fried, a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency industry, is known for creating a crypto empire that has a value of approximately $30 billion in comparatively short time.

Bankman-Fried's FTX cryptocurrency exchange was founded two years ago. It is currently seeking a valuation of $32 billion in a $1.5 million funding round. Bankman-Fried started out playing board games and multitasking, while he was always occupied with Silicon Valley.

Insider was told by Bankman-Fried and other FTX employees who were close friends of the crypto billionaire about how quickly the crypto exchange was able acquire such a large business in such a short time.

These are the top five takeaways from Insider’s profile of Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's newest member.

Workaholic Nature by Sam Bankman-Fried

Bankman-Fried was able to build a competitive platform within a very short time. He slept for four hours each night on a beanbag chair by his desk, and took calls from investors and clients at 3 a.m.

Bankman-Fried's work ethic is best exemplified by an incident in which he was up for 30 hours straight, and just got to bed when a client called. A FTX employee saw Bankman-Fried lying down and didn't have the nerve to get up to get with him.

"He said, "No, you wake him up next time. There's no doubt about it."

With Very Few Employees

According to the company, FTX employs between 10 and 25 people on its exchange and all of its subsidiaries. Comparatively, Binance has approximately 180 open positions for engineers at the moment, while Coinbase currently has 120 in the engineering department.

Bankman-Fried stated that the single thing that worries me most about FTX is if we become slow and dysfunctional. "I hope that we don't," Bankman-Fried said. However, we have seen it happen at many companies.

FTX Strong Compliance

Regulations, fines and sanctions have weighed heavily on many crypto exchanges but not FTX.

Lightspeed venture capitalist Amy Wu who invested in FTX’s latest funding round said that FTX is the only one to be free from negative press about regulation. Wu stated that her team assessed both the types of licenses FTX has in different markets, as well as its open communication and approach to regulation.

She stated that FTX is "one of the most compliant and nearest to regulators of any cryptocurrency exchange in the world."

Sam Bankman-Fried

Gabe Bankman-Fried, Bankman-Fried's older brother, said that "Making as many a difference as we can is really our moral obligation." "I believe that this was something we took very seriously starting at an early age."

Effective altruism is a philosophy promoted by the brothers. It emphasizes using one’s resources to do the most good for others.

What Are Your Political Ambitions?

According to multiple insiders, Bankman-Fried "already entered politics as President Biden's largest donor in 2020 campaign. He appears well-positioned for tackling D.C.’s increasing spotlight on crypto space through his relationships with regulators."

Noah Dummett, a former trader with FTX, stated that SBF would be "one of the wealthiest people in the world" within 10 years. "A career as a politician would not surprise me at all -- he is well-placed and has the right motivation to make it happen."