  FTX used to be the third-largest centralised exchange (CEX) in crypto
markets, managing over \$10B in daily trading volume before its downfall. Such
a giant, however, failed to avoid the fate of mania, panic, and crash. In this
work, we revisit the FTX's crash by telling it as a Ponzi story. In regards to
why FTX could not sustain this Ponzi game, we extract and demonstrate the three
facilitators of the FTX collapse, namely, \textit{FTT}, \textit{leverage}, and
\textit{diversion}. The unfunctionality in each factor can iteratively magnify
the impact of damages when the panic is triggered. Rooted in the unstable
ground, FTX eventually suffered insolvency and rapidly crashed in Nov. 2022.
The crisis of FTX is not an isolated event; it consequently results in the
collapse of a chain of associated companies in the entire crypto market. Recall
this painful experience, we discuss possible paths for a way forward for both
CeFi and DeFi services.
