'The money is gone': Bahamas tries to turn page after FTX downfall

On a December night in the Bahamas, Bishop Lawrence Rolle sings the words to his latest hit song to the hundreds of children and adults gathered to celebrate Christmas.

"FTX!" he sings, leaning in and shaking his head for emphasis. "The money is gone!"

"FTX!" Shout out her backing vocalist and the audience. "The money is gone!"

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX was supposed to be the crown jewel of the Bahamian government's push to be the global destination for all things crypto, after years of having an economy that was overly reliant on tourism and banking.

Instead, FTX is bankrupt and the Bahamians are trying to find out what's next for their country and whether their national crypto experiment has failed.

Regulators are trying to track down lost money from FTX clients.

Meanwhile, charities like Bishop Rolle's, plus dozens of contractors now out of work, are hoping another company will come along and bring new opportunities to the island, without the hassle and embarrassment of an alleged multi-billion dollar fraud.

Bishop Rolle, a Pentecostal preacher known as the "singing bishop," is a prominent figure in the Bahamas.

For decades, she has cooked for and donated food to the poor and provided school lunches from her neighborhood kitchen at Deliverance Prayer International Ministry in Over-The-Hill, one of the poorest areas of the capital Nassau.

Bishop Rolle and his staff feed about 2,500 people a week.

He was invited to a school to sing as part of their Christmas celebration.

Bishop Lawrence Rolle performs at a Christmas concert at Mt Carmel Preparatory Academy in Nassau. (AP Photo: Ken Sweet)

His act consisted mostly of half a dozen Afro-Caribbean gospel songs, but one number stood out: his social media hit about the recent FTX collapse.

Bishop Rolle's ministry received $50,000 ($73,000) from FTX in early 2022, one of several donations FTX made to the people of the Bahamas after it moved to the island in 2021.

He said the money was used to restore a food storage trailer and make additional food donations.

Bishop Lawrence Rolle stands between two bookshelves with his back to the camera. — Bishop Lawrence Rolle checks out the toys and supplies in his trailer, which he restored with a donation from FTX. (AP Photo: Ken Sweet)

The bishop described the failure of FTX as a sad distraction from the many problems facing the country.

Others are angry, particularly at FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX drop is 'frustrating'

The Bahamas had a reputation, like other Caribbean islands, as a destination for illicit and offshore financing.

It was believed that cryptocurrencies would allow the island to diversify its economy, create more financial opportunities, and help provide a more prosperous future.

A man in a suit is escorted by the police from a courthouse. — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (center) is escorted out of court in Nassau. (AP Photo: Rebecca Blackwell)

The Bahamas enacted the Registered Exchanges and Digital Assets Act in 2020, making it one of the first countries to come up with a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

Its Prime Minister, Philip Davis, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for FTX's new $60 million headquarters in Nassau in April, along with Mr. Bankman-Fried.

“His arrival was kind of the culmination of the work that the Bahamians did to move in this direction,” said Caribbean Blockchain Association executive director Stefen Deleveaux.

Several other crypto companies and startups are based in the Bahamas, some of them in an incubator known as Crypto Isle, not far from downtown Nassau.

Deleveaux said he became interested in cryptocurrency in early 2014 and has mostly been trying to focus his organization's efforts on blockchain technology, financial inclusion and technology uses.

He remains skeptical about cryptocurrency trading.

"It's frustrating. Now when people think of cryptocurrency, they will think of FTX," Deleveaux said.

"That's going to make my own job a lot harder."

Somehow, FTX was ubiquitous and remote from the local community, the Bahamians said.

His ads were everywhere, especially at the Nassau airport, in the tourist arrivals hall.

FTX conducted most of its operations from the safe and luxurious complex known as Albany, where residents such as Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake can be regularly seen.

"You don't just wander into Albany casually," Deleveaux said.

While FTX did hire Bahamians, or did hire Bahamian companies, it was almost entirely for logistics jobs like construction, cleaning services, or catering.

As soon as FTX took root in the elite circles of the Bahamas, everything fell apart.

FTX failed in spectacular fashion in early November, going from solvent to bankrupt in less than a week.

The owner of a food caterer said he had to lay off most of his workers after FTX, his biggest contract, went bankrupt.

Last month, Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the US to face criminal charges in what US Attorney Damian Williams called "one of the biggest frauds in US history." Joined".

Bankman-Fried has been released on bail and is scheduled to go to trial in October.

Meanwhile, law enforcement and regulators in the US and the Bahamas, as well as FTX's lawyers and new management, are trying to determine how much investor and client money is "gone," as repeated. Bishop Rolle often in his song.

Estimates of how much money was lost in the FTX collapse have varied significantly as some assets are still recovering, but one estimate puts losses at around $8 billion ($11.6 billion) to $US10 billion ($14.5 billion). millions).

The price of the pandemic continues to be felt

Some Bahamians say the collapse of FTX has diverted attention from the current problems facing the Caribbean country.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy of the Bahamas has been severely tested.

The country effectively banned outside visitors for nearly two years, only beginning to allow cruise ships to dock at its popular port about eight months ago.

In Nassau, there is widespread evidence of the economic cost of the pandemic.

Little remains to much in Nassau, where cryptocurrency exchange FTX broke ground on its headquarters in April.(AP Photo: Ken Sweet)

The British colonial hotel, best known for being the site of the James Bond film Never Say Never Again, was boarded up and closed in February.

Despite miles of pristine beaches, beautiful resorts, and the richest economy in the Caribbean, the Bahamas remains a country riven by inequality.

The taxi drivers talked about the impossibility of obtaining a loan of US$6,000 to buy their own vehicle.

About one in five Bahamians do not have a bank account, according to the country's central bank.

Late last year, the Bahamian government had to impose price controls on dozens of staple foods in a desperate attempt to combat inflation.

FTX officials seemed to recognize food and hunger as an issue to address to build goodwill with their new neighbors.

Along with the donation to Bishop Rolle's ministry, FTX donated $250,000 to Hands for Hunger and invested $1.1 million in a new nonprofit organization known as the Agricultural Development Committee, focused on strengthening the nation's food security.

When FTX filed for bankruptcy, there was speculation in the Bahamian media as to whether Bishop Rolle would have to repay the $50,000 donation.

He said the money was spent about a month after he received it.

"We made that money the best we could, buying flour, rice," Bishop Rolle said.

"There are too many hungry people.

"I just wish there were better companies than FTX.

"Many of our children do not have parents, or we have parents who have two, four or five children, or the children do not have a father.

"We can barely afford to feed them. I pray to God someone will come donate even more."

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‘The money is gone’: Bahamas tries to turn page after FTX downfall

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FTX drop is 'frustrating'

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