Sam Bankman-Fried is facing more than 100 years behind bars
Sam Bankman-Fried is back on X, and crypto users aren't happy about it. AFP

KEY POINTS

  • SBF said he sympathizes with government personnel, but there's also no point keeping them when they're 'doing nothing'
  • He said layoffs are usually not the employee's fault but at times, it was also the right thing to let them go
  • Many crypto users questioned why he was allowed to use his social media account while serving his sentence

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, has returned to X (formerly Twitter) after a two-year break to rant about retaining employees who are "doing nothing," as if contemplating the recent drama over Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives in cutting the federal workforce.

Bankman-Fried, more popularly known as SBF in the crypto space, said in a series of posts on X late Monday that he sympathizes with government employees who have been fired, drawing backlash from the crypto community, which said he was in no place to comment on the matter.

SBF Seems to Side with DOGE Over Federal Workforce Cuts

In his posts about government employees losing their jobs, SBF said "firing people is one of the hardest things to do in the world," noting that in his experience, it's usually not the employee's fault they lost their job, and it's "usually correct to let them go anyway."

He went on to explain that most often than not, the issue with firing workers is "the company just doesn't have the right job for them."

He also touched on the topic of employees "doing nothing," as if giving a nod to Musk's complaints regarding the federal government being too bloated with many workers not really doing much but are still getting paid.

"We saw it at competitors that hired 30,000 too many employees and then had no idea what to do with them—so entire teams just sat around doing nothing all day," Bankman-Fried argued.

While the disgraced crypto mogul believes it's not the worker's fault to get laid off, "there's no point in keeping them around, doing nothing."

Crypto Users Call Out Fallen Crypto Darling

Many crypto users were unpleased SBF broke his silence on the social media platform after two years just to make comments about the recent developments around the U.S. government.

"Can't check email but can tweet. Sounds about right," said one user, referring to SBF's first post wherein he related losing a government job to not being able to open his email for hundreds of days now.

Others found it outrageous that Bankman-Fried, who is serving 25 years for defrauding crypto users on the FTX exchange, was using X.

Many wondered how the former crypto darling was able to post on X when he was still in jail. "Our prison system is too loose," said one user.

Amid the outrage over SBF being allowed to use his X account, a few users were sympathetic. One said he doesn't see "the need to bully" Bankman-Fried, arguing that the backlash over his return to X seemed "over the top."

One crypto user believes Bankman-Fried commented on the issue as he was "doing what he thinks might reduce prison time," alluding to his recent first prison interview wherein he revealed there were "discussions" around a potential pardon for him from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Notably, Musk is a close advisor to the president and has been wielding a "chainsaw" in the federal government as part of his DOGE mission to significantly cut down government spending and downsize the federal workforce.

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