Robinhood's investment soared sevenfold! He could have been the Buffett of the encryption world: Why does SBF's investment insight amaze and lament people?

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was once regarded as a genius in the Crypto Assets industry. He not only founded FTX but also demonstrated exceptional investment judgment by early investments in key assets like Solana, Robinhood, and Anthropic. If he hadn't made the fatal decision to use customer funds to rescue his company Alameda, he might have ranked among the world's wealthiest today. This article will reflect on his astonishing investment insights and revisit a myth in the Crypto Assets world where he missed out on billions in assets.

Seizing Emerging Assets: Solana, Anthropic, and SUI have Amazing Growth Potential

SBF's sense for emerging technologies and blockchain can be said to be ahead of the market. He not only invested early in the Solana blockchain but also bet on the AI startup Anthropic and the emerging public chain token SUI. These assets have shown impressive market performance in the past two years, demonstrating that SBF indeed has the ability to "place the right bets."

According to analyst Will Clemente III's analysis on X, if these positions are fully retained without being seized or liquidated, SBF's book assets may have surpassed several billion dollars. The price of Solana rebounded strongly after a sharp decline in 2022, while Anthropic's valuation skyrocketed due to the AI boom, both confirming his investment foresight.

Precise Move: Robinhood Investments Multiplied by Seven Times

The most striking example is SBF's $648 million purchase of 56.27 million shares of Robinhood in 2022 at a price of $11.52 per share. Today, Robinhood's share price has risen to $82.18, an investment worth about $4.6 billion and a sevenfold return. Even if the shares were later seized by the US Department of Justice and bought back by Robinhood, analysts still consider this to be one of the most strategic equity layouts in the crypto industry in recent years.

Where does the investment capital come from? The reality behind the controversy.

Of course, SBF's investment story is also controversial. According to the 2022 bankruptcy data of FTX and subsequent media reports, several journalists, including those from CNBC and Laura Shin, pointed out that SBF used FTX customers' deposits to cover the losses of Alameda Research, indirectly funding these high-yield investments. The legal and ethical controversies have gradually overshadowed his achievements in investing.

If he had taken the right path, he could have become an investment legend.

Despite the controversy, one thing is undeniable: SBF's investment strategy is visionary. He dared to refocus on Robinhood, Solana, and AI at an extremely risky early stage, showing a very different judgment from the mainstream market. Some community members have even suggested that he could make hundreds of millions of dollars from AI startup Cursor: if all goes legally.

Analyst Will Clemente pointed out that if SBF had been willing to let Alameda go bankrupt on its own without using FTX customer funds, he might today be a wealthy and respected industry hero.

The story of Sam Bankman-Fried is a complex lesson in investment and risk management. His vision is undoubtedly precise, hitting the future trends and sniffing out high-growth targets, but it is precisely the improper sources of funds and the imbalance of ethical choices that have cast a shadow over these successes.

Today, these assets have mostly been liquidated or returned to the FTX creditors. SBF is serving a 25-year prison sentence and faces a $11 billion forfeiture. He may have had the potential to become the "Crypto Buffett," but ultimately, due to poor choices, he became the subject of the "most expensive lesson."

This article discusses how Robinhood's investment soared seven times! He could have been the Buffett of the encryption world: Why does SBF's investment insight astonish and regret people? Originally appeared in Chain News ABMedia.