FTT price jumped 30% after Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, applied for a presidential pardon.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, has formally asked for a presidential pardon through the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bankman-Fried filed an application with the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the Justice Department office that reviews clemency requests, Bloomberg reports.
The application asks for a “pardon after completion of sentence,” according to Bloomberg, which cited the office’s website.
FTT, the exchange token tied to FTX, jumped 33% after the pardon news and trades around $0.31, with a market capitalization of about $102.3 million, per CoinGecko.
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Seeking Plan B
The request follows earlier efforts by Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, to explore a possible pardon from President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg reported in January 2025 that they had met with lawyers and other people viewed as being in Trump’s orbit, though it wasn’t clear at the time whether outreach had reached the White House.
Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 over the collapse of FTX, which accelerated after Changpeng Zhao, the founder of rival crypto exchange Binance, said Binance would sell its remaining FTT holdings following reports about Alameda Research’s heavy exposure to the token.
- The FTX founder was sentenced in 2024 to 25 years in prison, while several former colleagues received lighter sentences after pleading guilty or cooperating with prosecutors.
- Ryan Salame, the former co-chief executive officer of FTX Digital Markets, was sentenced to 90 months in prison.
- Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive officer of Alameda Research, received two years.
- Nishad Singh, the former engineering director at FTX, and Gary Wang, the FTX co-founder and former chief technology officer, were both sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release.
Bankman-Fried is still fighting the case in court. He is waiting for a ruling from a federal appeals court in New York, where he is trying to have his conviction and sentence thrown out.
Read more: Ex‑FTX Exec Settles CFTC Fraud Case With $3.7M Return
