Where Have the FTX Depositors Gone to Panic?

The losers—and scammers— are flooding Telegram.

-  JOHN HERRMAN

IT’S EARLY NOVEMBER. You’re into crypto. It has probably been a rough few months—prices have fallen and some seemingly solid projects recently collapsed. You’ve got some assets tied up with FTX, the crypto concern founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. It’s one of the largest exchanges on earth and is run by a heavily connected industry heavyweight, a media darling with an interest in philanthropy who collects celebrity endorsements and investments. Soon, however, warning signs start flashing. FTX is in free fall. SBF is tweeting nonsense. You’ve finally realized you have to pull your money off FTX, but when you try, you see it’s too late. The exchange has frozen withdrawals. Customer service isn’t responding, your apps aren’t even working anymore, and press coverage is confusing, contradictory, slow, and written for outsiders.

So you do what you’ve always done when you need raw information about what’s going on in crypto: You check Telegram, the sprawling chat platform that plays a central role in the crypto ecosystem for investors, lurkers, and scammers alike.

In the good times, FTX’s official presence on Telegram helped the company cultivate a reputation for customer service. When things were falling apart at FTX, they fell apart here, too, as thousands of panicked users flooded its support channels. Moderators—still working for FTX—failed to keep up and then evidently turned off new posts in the room. On November 11, an FTX representative posted an update that offered additional grim news to customers already worried the company was on the brink of bankruptcy: “FTX has been hacked.”