FTX’s native token, FTT, saw a sudden 30% spike after former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried made his first social media post in two years. The brief rally came despite his message having no direct link to the collapsed crypto exchange.

On Feb. 25, Bankman-Fried posted on X, expressing sympathy for government workers, joking that he hadn’t checked his emails for “a few hundred days.” He also reflected on the difficulty of firing employees, saying that sometimes the issue is the company failing to find the right role for them. His remarks seemed to reference Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency email campaign, which asked workers to justify their positions or face termination.

Following the unexpected post, FTT jumped from $1.63 to over $2 before crashing back to $1.75 within 30 minutes. The token remains down over 97% from its all-time high of $85.02 in September 2021, before FTX collapsed in November 2022.

Bankman-Fried’s last post before this was in January 2023, when he discussed his congressional testimony. He also previously retweeted a crypto lawyer’s post about a legal dispute involving an FTX executive during his trial.

Convicted of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024, Bankman-Fried is currently incarcerated at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. Bloomberg reported that his parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, are exploring the possibility of a presidential pardon, seeking legal counsel and political connections.

The crypto world remains divided over Bankman-Fried’s legacy, but his influence on FTX’s token price—however short-lived—suggests he still holds sway over parts of the market.