“Last week’s collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is sending aftershocks through the scientific community,” writes Science magazine:
An undergraduate physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who founded FTX and quickly became a billionaire, 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried began to back philanthropic organizations that supported a wide variety of science-related causes, most designed to improve human well-being. Now, with FTX in bankruptcy and under investigation for misuse of investors’ money, his formerly flush foundations are suddenly strapped for cash and much of that work is at risk. One foundation, the Future Fund, was just launched in February. But by the end of June, its officials reported awarding 262 grants and “investments” totaling $132 million.
It’s unclear how much of that money has been distributed. But on 10 November, five senior Future Fund officials resigned and announced in a statement, “We are devastated to say that it looks likely that