Written by: shushu, BlockBeats
Tiffany Fong, a female KOL with 340,000 Twitter followers, recently became entangled in a bizarre rumor, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that Musk had privately messaged her requesting a child, only to be rejected.
From being SBF's "confidant" to Musk's "potential surrogate," Tiffany Fong's life seems chaotic but actually follows the internal logic of internet narratives: as an outsider, she becomes an unexpected protagonist in every storm. These highlights were never truly led by her; she was merely continuously drawn in, then labeled repeatedly under the social media spotlight.
Without a team, official resources, or capital support, even Tiffany herself cannot explain why SBF trusted her, why Musk approached her, or why she always appears at the edge of these storms. She is not an insider, yet lives within the projection of these situations.
Starting as a Rights Protection Blogger
During the 2022 Crypto Winter, some went bankrupt or to prison, while others built their careers on the crypto ruins.
A previously unknown young woman, Tiffany Fong, entered public view through a revelation about Celsius Network.
She was not from traditional media, had never worked in financial institutions or newsrooms, and didn't even have a typical 9-to-5 job. Yet this atypical financial amateur gradually became a spokesperson for Celsius victims through repeated information disclosures, unexpectedly launching her content creation career in the crypto industry.
Born in Las Vegas with divorced parents, Tiffany Fong's growth was full of twists. Studying communication at USC, she candidly admitted choosing the major for its relatively easy coursework and more time for socializing and traveling. After graduation, she backpacked worldwide for years, maintaining life through multiple online stores, achieving a degree of financial freedom that allowed her to focus full-time on crypto industry developments.
In 2011, Tiffany received a Bitcoin from a relative, never cashing it out. During the 2021 bull market, she deposited over $200,000 worth of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto assets into Celsius Network, a lending platform promising up to 18% annual deposit rates. However, in June 2022, Celsius suddenly suspended withdrawals and declared bankruptcy the following month, freezing Tiffany's digital assets.
For her, this was not just an investment loss but coincided with an emotional low point. She was experiencing a breakup, recalling, "That was the lowest period of my life." Initially, she repeatedly searched for Celsius news, trying to understand what happened to her assets. Gradually, she began organizing found information into tweets, sharing on Twitter and YouTube with other victims.
Her tweets caught Celsius internal employees' attention, with one anonymously providing an internal all-staff meeting recording discussing restructuring plans by company leadership.
Tiffany was initially skeptical but confirmed CEO Alex Mashinsky's voice in the recording. Recognizing its importance, she provided the audio to The New York Times, which subsequently conducted an in-depth report.
This disclosure became her true breakthrough moment. With more informants emerging, she began publishing sensitive information like executive wallet addresses and potential investor bidding proposals, clearly stating her stance—not for political motives or to become a crusader, but believing that as creditors, they should know about behind-the-scenes developments.
From a disappointed investor's plea to becoming an involuntary rights protection information relay station, Tiffany Fong established herself in a corner of the crypto world through continuous updates and disclosures, without any institutional endorsement.
Accidentally Becoming Closer to SBF Than Any Media
After publicly revealing Celsius executives' meeting, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried followed her on Twitter.
It was her first time noticing her name in a larger narrative. Initially unconcerned, she politely replied "thanks for following," and he responded, "Your leaked information is interesting." After brief pleasantries, they returned to their lives. She didn't pursue further until months later when FTX collapsed, suddenly restarting everything.
On November 11, 2022, when FTX announced bankruptcy, Tiffany messaged SBF that evening, thinking "he won't reply anyway," asking if he'd accept an interview and adding a seemingly kind greeting: "Hope you're doing okay."
Unexpectedly, five days later, SBF actually replied—not just responding but providing his phone number, indicating he had an hour free to chat.
Tiffany was on a date in a Brooklyn bar when the message arrived, leaving her stunned. Her date, also an FTX user who lost hundreds of thousands, urged her to go home immediately. Slightly drunk and unprepared, she dialed Sam's number, completing her first true "interview" with the most sensational financial world figure at the time.
This conversation, later published on her YouTube channel, particularly sparked controversy when SBF admitted secretly donating substantial political funds to the Republican Party—a statement later included in the Federal Election Commission's formal complaint against him.
On November 20, Tiffany released their second interview conversation, shortly before SBF's mainstream media interviews. This discussion was more intimate, and Tiffany realized SBF seemed to be seeking a listener—not a journalist or lawyer, but a stranger without a specific stance.
SBF explicitly stated he liked that Tiffany wasn't from mainstream media, with "no editor to report to," allowing free expression. His trust in her partly stemmed from this non-institutional space.
However, misunderstandings and labels followed. The Daily Mail reported with the headline "Sexy Crypto Influencer's Late-Night Visit to FTX Bad Boy," featuring her old Instagram photos without mentioning her reporting content. Tiffany, not yet accustomed to tabloid logic, was initially angry and hurt by the sensationalized, gender-focused interpretations.
Ten Visits in Palo Alto
After being extradited to the US, SBF was placed under house arrest at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California. Tiffany thought their interaction had ended, but at 3 AM the night he returned home, she received a message: "Hey, I'm finally online again."
She tentatively asked to visit, and SBF again readily agreed. After the first visit, she moved to San Francisco, short-term renting a house, taking Uber south weekly for dozens of face-to-face conversations.
SBF's parents' house under lockdown
Here's the English translation: Tiffany and SBF discussed not only the case, but also his childhood insecurities, social emptiness, loneliness in recent years, and the former intimate allies who have now become courtroom witnesses. SBF admitted he hardly had any true friends, and Tiffany at that time became a temporarily trustworthy confidant. However, Tiffany remained cautious about this relationship, knowing that SBF was not straightforward. She sensed he was trying to convey a certain public opinion narrative and sometimes hinted at "leaking something". But she was unwilling to be completely manipulated and avoided publishing too many of his statements during house arrest. The Department of Justice even contacted her, requesting records of her interactions with SBF, which made her more aware of her unique position in this event. "Part friend, part journalist" might be the most accurate description of this relationship. From an unexpected late-night phone call to multiple complex meetings, Tiffany occupied an intimately distant position in this epic collapse of the crypto world. She witnessed the fall of an empire and was drawn into it - neither as a mastermind nor a judge. [The rest of the translation follows the same professional and accurate approach, maintaining the original tone and meaning while translating into English.]
