FTX is a centralized exchange that focuses on “derivatives, options, volatility products, and leveraged tokens”. It was co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, a former trader, and Gary Wang, who used to work as a software engineer at Google. Both of them are MIT graduates and crypto enthusiasts. The project aims to solve issues of other crypto exchanges such as low liquidity and slow trading.
FTX was founded with charitable work in mind. So far FTX and its employees have donated over $10 million to Effective Altruism, Give Well, the Human League, and OpenAI. There are two tokens powering the FTX ecosystem. FTX token is an ERC-20 that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. It was created in 2019 to power the FTX Exchange in collaboration with Alameda Research. FTT is a utility token of the FTX ecosystem, which means that FTT holders can get benefits and discounts within the network. They get access to lower trading fees, socialized gains from the insurance fund, and OTC rebates.
In March 2022, FTX announced its partnership with AZA Finance, a company that introduced the first digital exchange and digital currency in Africa. This partnership aims to further develop Web3 in Africa by connecting its markets to the global economy, introducing educational resources, and onboarding African NFTs.