Gary Wang is a former cryptocurrency billionaire who cofounded the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. His exceptional math and coding abilities were behind the algorithms that helped power the FTX empire and eventually facilitate wide-scale misappropriations of customer funds. He pleaded guilty to his involvement in the fraudulent diversion of $8 billion from FTX customers and testified against his friend and cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried. He is a key player in the story of the most infamous collapse in crypto history.
Breaking Down Gary Wang’s Net Worth
Gary Wang appeared on Forbes’ list of the The World’s Youngest Billionaires in 2022, with an estimated net worth of $5.9 billion. According to Forbes, most of Wang’s net worth was tied up in a 16% stake in FTX and a share of FTT tokens (the cryptocurrency created by FTX). He also owned a 10% share in Alameda Research. Following the collapse of FTX, Gary Wang’s net worth is estimated at $0 (and he could be in major debt).
In January 2023, the New York Times reported that Wang was working full-time as a software engineer for a 3D imaging company called Polycam. The company previously advertised an opening for a senior software engineer with a salary range of $160,000-$240,000, though neither party has confirmed the details of his salary. This is Wang’s only known income at this time.
| Asset or Income Source | Contribution to Net Worth |
| FTX stake and FTT | $0 |
| Polycam salary | $160k to $240k per year |
| Total Net Worth | $0 |
Gary Wang’s Early Life and Career
Gary Wang (known formally as Zixiao Wang) moved to the US from China with his family when he was eight years old. Wang was a naturally gifted mathematician at an early age. From sixth to nineth grade, he took part in the University of Minnesota’s Talented Youth in Mathematics Program in Rochester (UMTYMP).
In 2008, the family moved from Minnesota to South Jersey. As a teenager, he consistently ranked in the top 50 in national mathematics events like the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) and the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO). His father described him as quiet and idealistic, with a strong focus on math and coding.
When he was fifteen, Wang attended math camp. It was there that he met his future business partner, Sam Bankman Fried. They later went to college together at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Wang studied mathematics and computer science. They were both members of the fraternity Epsilon Theta. According to his father, Wang adopted new ideologies at MIT, becoming a vegan and living a frugal, environmentally-conscious lifestyle.
After college, Wang got a job at Google, where he built a system to aggregate prices across publicly available flight data. During this time, Sam Bankman-Fried was working at the Jane Street Hedge Fund.
The Founding of Alameda Research
In 2017, Wang and Bankman-Fried left their jobs to start Alameda Research. Alameda Research was a trading company that bought cryptocurrency in one part of the world and sold it to another using a strategy that relied on complex algorithms. In other words, it was a quantitative trading firm that ran a digital asset arbitrage model. Quantitative trading is a popular strategy used by hedge funds on Wall Street, but because Alameda operated in the cryptocurrency space, it was subject to less regulation.
The company was initially run from an apartment in Berkeley, California, but it eventually relocated to Hong Kong to take advantage of price discrepancies in cryptocurrencies across different locations. Alameda managed around $55 million at first. The money came out of the founding team’s own pockets and from high-interest loans from rich investors.
In time, as hedge funds and other investors started to get involved in crypto arbitrage, Alameda faced steep competition, but the price of crypto kept rising so they kept making money. However, they were starting to struggle to find lenders to provide them with the capital they needed to keep growing.
The Founding of FTX
In 2019, Bankman-Fried had the idea to start a cryptocurrency exchange to bring in money for Alameda, and so Wang and Bankman-Fried founded FTX. Bankman-Fried became its CFO, while Wang was its CTO. While Alameda remained in Hong Kong, the pair relocated to the Bahamas, where FTX was headquartered. They lived together with eight other people in a $35 million apartment.
Crypto derivatives exchange @FTX_Official has moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas.
By @NelWanghttps://t.co/uWxJLom0hi
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) September 24, 2021
FTX was a cryptocurrency derivatives platform which allowed customers to invest in various financial instruments (e.g., futures) that derived their value from an underlying cryptocurrency. It also offered simple spot trading of cryptos. The platform was initially aimed at professional traders, but it later expanded to target retail investors as well.
In 2021, FTX claimed to be making $1 billion in annual revenue from user fees. They established a native token, the FTT. Customers who used the coin to trade on the platform received a discount. The price of FTT was kept stable by this demand as well as the fact that Alameda Research held a large portion of the supply of the token.
https://t.co/IsvaYLQXqu pic.twitter.com/BoM1MXBa2N
— FTX (@FTX_Official) May 8, 2021
At first, FTT seemed like a genius move. The discount boosted demand for FTX, and the rising value of FTT helped bolster Alameda’s balance sheets. FTT holdings could also be used as collateral for new loans to fund Alameda trading. However, these tokens didn’t have as much value as their market cap made it seem. Its price would crash if Alameda started selling significant amounts of tokens, making it extremely difficult to realize any profits.
In May 2022, when the crypto market crashed, FTX looked strong and even bailed out other collapsing firms.
The Collapse of FTX
In July 2021, Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, sold his stake in FTX to Bankman-Fried and was paid in a mix of FTT and BUSD (Binance’s stablecoin). On November 2nd, Coindesk reported that, according to a leaked document, Alameda’s value relied largely on its FTT holdings, which it couldn’t sell easily.
On November 6th, Binance (the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange) sold its FTT holdings (worth $580 million), referencing the revelation in the Coindesk article. This sparked a widespread selloff of FTT. Over the next three days, FTX received withdrawal requests worth $6 billion, but it did not have the cash to fulfill the requests, so it halted all withdrawals.
FTX made a deal to sell itself to Binance, but Binance ultimately pulled out when they learned of reports of mishandled funds and investigations by regulators. Days later, Bankman-Fried resigned and FTX filed for bankruptcy.
Sad day. Tried, but 😭
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) November 9, 2022
Fraud at FTX
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department opened an investigation into the FTX collapse and FTX’s assets were frozen by the Bahamian regulator. Soon after, federal prosecutors launched an investigation.
.@FTX_Official is now facing an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to a new report, deepening the beleaguered company's woes.@nikhileshde reportshttps://t.co/ujS0BzCiJe
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) November 9, 2022
It became clear that over $8.7 billion of FTX customer funds were misused. These funds were funneled into Alameda and also used to pay for political donations, property, and investments. Naturally, FTX could not return the money when it experienced a bank run. This risky and unethical practice was coupled with non-traditional financial reporting methods.
1) I'm sorry. That's the biggest thing.
I fucked up, and should have done better.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 10, 2022
Gary Wang & FTX Trials
Gary Wang was the first person from FTX to come forward and cooperate with investigators. He flew to New York to provide information that helped prosecutors extradite Bankman-Fried from the Bahamas. He helped the government to understand the complex code that allowed the fraud to take place.
Wang also testified during Bankman-Fried’s trial in 2023. Bankman-Fried was found guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and $11 billion in forfeiture, which was used to compensate the victims of his fraud.
Wang pleaded guilty to his own role in defrauding customers. He said he altered the FTX code at Bankman-Fried’s request to give Alameda unlimited access to customer funds. He apologized to everyone harmed.
In November 2024, Wang was sentenced to three years of supervised release and no prison time. The judge praised Wang for his cooperation. Wang has also helped the government develop tools to identify future instances of fraud.
FTX co-founder Gary Wang has been spared from prison over his role in the multibillion dollar fraud at the cryptocurrency exchange after prosecutors and a judge both heaped praise on him https://t.co/IJuPglFbhR
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) November 20, 2024
Gary Wang Crypto Advocacy
Gary Wang has tended to avoid the public eye, but FTX spent millions lobbying for crypto-friendly policy and regulation in the US. For example, Wang’s cofounder, Sam Bankman-Fried, met with Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, and other senior officials.
#Reuters: Cryptocurrency companies have spent approximately $19 million on lobbying activities from January to September 2023, marking a 19% increase compared to the same period in 2022 (prior to FTX bankruptcy, during which FTX was the highest spender). #Coinbase leads the… pic.twitter.com/OVfxwUlczX
— GM CashBack (@gmCashBack) December 6, 2023
Wang’s decision to quit his job at Google and launch two startups (i.e., Alameda Research and FTX) in the crypto space suggests he was passionate about cryptocurrency. He also stored most of his own wealth in FTX and Alameda stock, as well as FTT tokens, suggesting his confidence in crypto.
Crypto & NFT Holdings
Before the collapse of FTX, Gary Wang owned a considered share of FTT tokens. His other cryptocurrency holdings and NFT purchases are not public knowledge. However, he is thought to be insolvent.
Gary Wang Net Worth: The Verdict
Gary Wang’s financial journey isn’t exactly a tale of rags to riches and back again—after all, he currently holds a well-paying job as a computer programmer. But it is a dramatic arc: he soared from software developer to crypto mogul, only to crash back down as a disgraced developer and exposed fraudster, now reportedly worth nothing. His tale is an important reminder that crime does not pay.
Wang is only in his thirties, so there is still time for him to start a new company or climb the ladder at an existing company. However, given his shy nature and association with major fraud, he might decide to keep a low profile and continue to live a quiet life as a programmer.
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FAQs
Is Gary Wang in jail?
Gary Wang was not given prison time. He was sentenced to three years of supervised release.
What is Gary Wang doing now?
According to the New York Times, Gary Wang is working full-time as a software engineer for a company called Polycam.
How old is Gary Wang?
Gary Wang is 32 as of 2025.
