This article has been translated from English to Gen Z Slang.
Caroline Ellison used to be the big boss at Alameda Research and was also living that exec life at the crypto exchange FTX. 💸
She hit the books at Stanford University and kicked off her career at Jane Street Capital, which was slinging over $17 trillion in securities in 2020. That's like, major cash flow. 💰
In 2018, while she was hustling at Jane Street, Caroline bumped into Sam Bankman-Fried (or SBF for the homies), who also used to work there. 🤝
SBF hit her with the smooth talk, convincing her to bounce from Jane Street and join his squad at Alameda Research, a hedge fund that was all about those digital coins. 🔥
They first set up shop in Berkley, California, then rolled over to Hong Kong, and finally, they were chilling in the Bahamas because crypto rules were just not vibing with them anymore in Hong Kong. 🏝️
Fast forward to 2019, SBF took things to the next level with the launch of the FTX crypto exchange, becoming the captain of both FTX and Alameda. 🚀
By October 2021, SBF was like, “I gotta dip,” preparing to focus on FTX, so he handed over the CEO throne to Caroline and Sam Trubucco as co-CEOs. Talk about power moves! 💼
Forbes didn't sleep on them—they managed to snag a spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for being total rockstars in 2022. ✨
A few months in, around April 2022, Trubucco was like, “Peace out,” and Caroline was left holding down the fort solo as the CEO of Alameda Research. #GirlBoss 🙌
But then, drama hit hard when FTX hit a liquidity bump and had to hit that Chapter 11 bankruptcy humble pie, dragging Alameda along a few days later. 🏴
The tea started spilling about SBF, Caroline, and the crew shifting billions from FTX customer funds to cover up some bad crypto moves and debts. Yikes! 😬
After the whole bankruptcy chaos, Caroline got the boot from her FTX gig as they brought in new management. 🚪
Things got even messier on Dec 21, 2022, when Caroline, along with Gary Wang, the ex-CTO of FTX, caught charges from the SEC. They got called out for finessing investors by messing with the FTT price, making Alameda’s FTT look like it was worth way more. 💼
The day after, Caroline and Gary said “Yup, guilty” to all the SEC charges linked to that FTX meltdown. 💥