Brett Harrison (ex-FTX US), X Hall of Flame – Cointelegraph Magazine

The former president of FTX US breaks down the dirt on his feud with former Jane Street colleague Sam Bankman-Fried and predicts the spot Bitcoin ETF will surpass the record-breaking success of the Bitcoin Futures ETF.

Who is this guy anyway?

Brett Harrison, the former president of FTX US, told the magazine that he had not spoken to Sam Bankman-Fried in the two months since his resignation, just months before the entire exchange imploded. At first, even getting a message to SBF that I resigned was a difficult task.

I had to talk to other people in the organization about officially resigning. I wrote a text to Sam and got a single heart emoji back. That was the last I heard from him,” Harrison said.

Harrison and Bankman-Fried were colleagues years ago at the quantitative trading firm Jane Street, where Harrison saw the potential while instructing SBF on programming for traders. But things quickly went south between them at FTX.

Harrison attributed this to Bankman-Fried's inflated ego and refusal to accept any feedback or advice.

“Sam hates criticism and refuses to communicate with me because of it. It motivated my decision to quit even more,” he said.

However, Harrison said he had no idea the storm was about to hit the company with FTX announcing bankruptcy a few months after its US trade.

“The rest of us, especially those living in America, were blind. We were working with regulators, senior lawyers, and it will stay with us for the rest of our lives to see one person's greed fail an entire organization.

However, he feels justice has been served in the recent fraud case against his former boss.

“I feel the outcome was absolutely fair, and I'm glad that justice was served quickly. “I think it was very important that Sam was held accountable for his actions,” he said.

Meanwhile, Harrison wasted no time diving into a new project.

He co-founded Architect.xyz, a DeFi platform that focuses on connecting all the different opportunities for both institutional and retail investors in the digital asset space.

Harrison is a bit brainy and has a Computer Science degree from Harvard University with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). So who better to ask about AI's potential to take over the world?

“I don't think AI is a threat to humanity,” he said, noting that AI has been more advanced than people think.

“A lot of people are seeing AI for the first time now, they don't appreciate the decades of progress that went into it.”

Harrison is more concerned about people using AI to avoid scams and swipe identities effortlessly.

“It's really just straight algebra,” he said. “The idea that linear algebra is some sort of existential threat to our existence has little appeal to those who have been practicing in the field for a long time.”

What made Twitter famous?

Harrison is a smart guy who puts things on social media that people seem to dig.

But let's not pretend that it was the FTX connection that blew up the follower numbers. When it nosedived in November 2022, the number hit its highest weekly peak, gaining 2,140 followers, according to data from Social Blade.

In January, his lengthy rant about his departure from X garnered nearly 3 million eyeballs. He said he wasn't packed from the FTX gig; It wasn't his dream job, and SBF was an “insecure, proud manager.”

Content that people can expect

If you scroll through Harrison's timeline over the years, you'll notice that his glam lifestyle has tapered off significantly since his FTX days.

Back then, he was often seen hanging out with celebrities and former prime ministers.

Nowadays, the way is more low-key. In addition to dropping some marketing rumors, Harrison has been tight-lipped about his family life lately.

He is talking about saving toys from the FTX US office who somehow saved the bankruptcy drama.

What kind of content does he like?

Harrison likes the mix of genius and art at Crypto X – finding humor and high intelligence every day.

“One of the things I love about crypto-Twitter is the mix of highly intellectual cerebral, market structure or political commentary and deconstructed memes.”

However, when we ask about the bills he has entered, he is not forthcoming.

After a little digging, it turns out he's following 2,100 accounts, and who's in the mix? None other than Bankman-Fried's friend Tiffany Fong.

It was an honor for me too, I really appreciate your talent and memory game ❤️.

— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) September 27, 2022

Bitcoin Predictions?

Harrison avoided making predictions, saying that he would never predict the events that happened to him. But then things were going very smoothly, and all that has changed.

In the year At the beginning of 2021, I would assign a low probability to almost all the major things that happened in my life this year: I will leave tradfi after 11 years, that Sam will hire me, I will help build a crypto exchange, I will open a Twitter account…

— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) December 31, 2021

Harrison noted that there is a “high probability” that a Bitcoin ETF will be approved sometime in the first quarter of 2024.

As for price predictions? Harrison isn't throwing out any six-figure numbers right away.

“Assuming there is an ETF approved in Q1. I think something in the $50,000 to $55,000 range sounds very doable,” he said.

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I don't see Bitcoin hitting six figures until “late 2024 or early 2025.”

A small hint of how optimistic he is about the position Bitcoin ETF suggests is the first day of the Bitcoin Futures ETF.

“If you remember the day the Bitcoin Futures ETF was listed, the returns were some of the highest in ETF history. I think we'll see more records broken for the spot Bitcoin ETF.”

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Ciaran Lyon

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.