The scientific community is feeling the effects of the collapse of FTX. An undergraduate physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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. With FTX in bankruptcy and under investigation for misuse of investors' money, his formerly flush foundations are suddenly strapped for cash and a lot of work is at risk.
The Future Fund is one of the foundations. By the end of June, it had awarded 262 grants and invested $132 million. It is not clear how much has been distributed. On 10 November, five senior Future Fund officials resigned and said that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will not be able to honor.
Josh Morrison is the head of 1Day Sooner, an organization that received $375,000 from the Future Fund and the FTX Foundation. The human challenge trials advocated by 1DaySooner were used to test the effectiveness of the vaccine.
The Future Fund has given money to a number of notable science recipients.
The Future Fund grant money will not be used until the salaries of the three new hires are paid. Esvelt says that they don't think it's right for anyone to lose their job over a financial calamity unrelated to their work.
As the company scrambles to secure emergency backup funding, a lot of their work is in danger. The company released a white paper today that reviews new technologies, such as improved personal protective equipment and germicidal lights, that could help head off future Pandemics. Last week's events put critical work in jeopardy.
It was unthinkable that FTX would collapse. The company's assets were between $10 billion and $50 billion according to the documents. After doubts were raised about FTX's financial health, investors tried to withdraw their money from the bank. More than $500 million was stolen from the company just hours after it declared Chapter 11.
The Future Fund and the FTX Foundation have already been awarded, but what will happen to them? According to The Wall Street Journal, FTX is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. In an online forum hosted by the Center for Effective Altruism, Molly Kovite, legal operations manager for the Open Philanthropy foundation, wrote that FTX's creditor could try to claw back their investments during the process of reorganization. The bankruptcy process will probably ask you to pay all or part of the money back if you received awards after 11 August.
Grants are wondering how they will pay the bills Morrison says that everyone is concerned.
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