In his thirties, he becomes a billionaire and wants to donate 99% of his wealth to charity: a tremendous example of generosity

by Mark Bennett

April 15, 2022

In his thirties, he becomes a billionaire and wants to donate 99% of his wealth to charity: a tremendous example of generosity
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What would young people - and not just young people - do if they found themselves with a staggering sum of money in their pockets? Most would invest it for their future, or would buy something very expensive, to get satisfy a fantasy that in normal conditions would have been impossible to attain. Especially at a young age, it might be easier to indulge oneself in splashing out if you find yourself suddenly with a fortune at your fingertips: the first thought would hardly be to give your money to charity.

Yet, sometimes it happens: this is a story of an American man who first became a billionaire and, soon after, gave us an example of altruism everyone should take note of.

via The Federal News

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Sam Bankman-Fried is 30 years old, and originally from Stanford, California, but now lives in the Bahamas.

Vegan and video game enthusiast, the young man has become a billionaire and his first thought was to donate his money to doing something good for others.

After college, Sam founded the FTX company, which became the third largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world - so much so, that five of his colleagues are now also billionaires.

Before starting the company, the young man worked on Wall Street for three years, where he had the opportunity to study the cryptocurrency sector (virtual money) and the differences in the value of bitcoins between the US and Japan, (which can reach 10 %). FTX exploits this difference: earning profits on the differential amounts. The company has got shares worth $ 344 billion and Bankman-Fried has acquired Binance, the number one cryptocurrency exchange whose shares are close to a mind-blowing $ 2 trillion.

And what has Sam done with his staggering amount of money - to what purpose has he put it? It is certainly not used to  live a life of unbridled luxury, quite the opposite: the wish of the thirty-year-old is to donate 99% of his income to charities.

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Pixabay-Not the actual photo

Pixabay-Not the actual photo

Sam's motto is based on the concept of “effective altruism”: by resorting to logic and rational calculations, one can understand how to use one's resources to do the best for as many people as possible.

According to the boy, money can buy happiness, but only in very few cases: the more he manages to earn, the more likely he is to succeed in this charitable goal.

Back in the days of Wall Street, when he was a humble employee, he donated over half of his salary to charities and humanitarian causes. Most recently, he donated $ 50 million to the company's efforts against global warming.

Bankman-Fried considered several options, including seeking for alternative to coal and coal mining. In any case, his primary goal remains the same: to maximize altruism and use his enormous wealth in the service of humanity.

How many would do the same as this generous young man?

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