FTX CEO: Billionaires Should be Taxed More

Sam Bankman-Fried – Chief Executive Officer of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX – believes billionaires like him should get taxed at a higher percentage rate. The crypto boss admitted he plans to donate “almost everything” that he earns in his lifetime to charity causes.

Taxing The Rich Sounds Fair

Earlier this year, the US government contemplated imposing a new tax rule. A move that sounds good on paper for some – cure the shuttered economy and bring fresh funds into the Treasury, which later the authorities could distribute accordingly.

The legislation targets mainly the wealthiest individuals. If the bill becomes official, it would mean that the American billionaires, who are more than 600, will be slammed with an additional percentage.

In a recent interview for CNN, Sam Bankman-Fried – Founder of the cryptocurrency trading venue FTX and one of the US billionaires – said he is an advocate of this idea. Despite admitting he is not an expert in the field, he stated that collecting more tax from people like him sounds “totally reasonable.”

“I would be generally supportive of that,” he added.

On another note, the 29-year-old, known as the richest billionaire under 30, opined that taking part in charities is more important than taxation. He vowed to distribute “almost everything” that he makes over the course of his life to donation causes. These include fights against poverty, pandemic preparedness, and global warming-related projects.

“It’s incumbent upon us to give back not just for our own sake and not reputation. It’s important to give back to help the world,” the top executive emphasized.

Nonetheless, Bankman-Fried argued that some donations are pointless. “Naming buildings after yourself” is one of them, and it has nothing in common with those charities that aim to create global well-being for humanity.

Buterin Donates Too

Vitalik Buterin is another young billionaire part of the cryptocurrency industry. In May this year, Ethereum’s Co-Founder allocated 50 trillion SHIB tokens to India Covid Relief Fund alongside 500 ETH. At the time of the donation, the amount was worth around $1 billion.

Back then, India was struggling with its worst wave of coronavirus infections, and the health sector was barely coping with the crisis. Buterin outlined the severe problem COVID-19 has created for the Asian country and the entire world and said:

“It’s important to think about the longer term future too.”

Featured Image Courtesy of Forbes