Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of FTX, who is currently imprisoned , has not given up hope of regaining his freedom. According to a Bloomberg report on June 8, 2026, the 34-year-old SBF has formally submitted a presidential pardon application to the Pardon Attorney Office of the U.S. Department of Justice, seeking a pardon "after completion of sentence."
Ignoring the White House's cold response, SBF formally submitted his pardon application.
In 2024, SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison on seven felony counts, including misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds. The report points out that SBF and his team actively sought an executive pardon during President Donald Trump's second term, a period marked by frequent use of his pardon power. Despite repeated lobbying by SBF's parents and his own praise of Trump on social media platform X, emphasizing that FTX customers had received overpayments, the White House had repeatedly stated that Trump had "no intention of pardoning" the notorious cryptocurrency tycoon.
Speculative buying surged, sending FTT soaring over 60% in a single day.
Despite the slim chances of a pardon, the cryptocurrency market reacted sharply to the news. FTX's platform token, FTT, which was considered to have no practical use and faced liquidation risks in bankruptcy proceedings, saw a surge of speculative buying, resembling "buying lottery tickets," after the news broke.
Market data shows that the price of FTT surged from a low of $0.23 to a high of around $0.395 within 24 hours, a single-day increase of 52% to 66%, reaching a new high in nearly a month, with trading volume soaring to tens of millions of dollars. Analysts warn that this type of news-driven speculative surge is extremely risky, and investors should be cautious and aware of the risks of chasing high prices.
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