His top philanthropic cause is fighting off pandemics, which will get ‘worse’ and ‘more frequent,’ he said.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is piling up the dough, as evidenced by Forbes’ $24 billion estimate of his wealth.
This puts him at No. 67 in the world.
But he doesn’t plan to spend that money on himself. He told Bloomberg that he’ll keep 1% of his yearly earnings, or a minimum of $100,000. Beyond that he’ll give everything away to causes he considers worthy.
He told Bloomberg that he donated $50 million in 2021, with the recipients including pandemic relief efforts in India and campaigns to fight global warming. He plans to give away several hundred million dollars to $1 billion this year.
Bankman-Fried told Bloomberg his No. 1 mission is defending against the next pandemic. The next pandemic could truly be ugly, he said.
“We should expect that pandemics will get worse over time and more frequent, just because of the possibility of lab leaks,” he said. “This has a non-trivial chance of destabilizing the world if we don’t get prepared for it.”
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On the more esoteric side, Bankman-Fried is concerned about artificial intelligence run amuck, bioweapons and warfare in space, Bloomberg reports.
Other Billionaires Giving Big
The biggest organized philanthropic commitment for the uber wealthy is The Giving Pledge, founded by Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2010. Signees pledge to give a majority of their wealth away either during their lifetimes or after they die.
The Giving Pledge has more than 230 signatories from 28 different countries.
The most active philanthropist now may be MacKenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was instrumental in helping him create and build the company.
She has donated more than $12 billion in publicly-announced gifts to non-profit groups since 2020, The New York Times reports.
Scott has also pledged to give away her entire pot of wealth, which Forbes now estimates at $50 billion, putting her at No. 26 in the world.
She has given to causes like Habitat for Humanity, Planned Parenthood, YMCAs and historically black colleges and universities, in many cases creating newfound financial stability for these organizations.
