Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, who was convicted of stealing $8 billion from his customers, was sentenced today to 25 years in prison. He was also ordered to forfeit $11.2 billion in assets.

The sentence was shorter than the 40 to 50 years requested by federal prosecutors, but well above the six and a half years sought by his defense lawyers. It ranks as one of the longest sentences imposed on a white-collar defendant in recent years.

Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted last fall of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. His prison sentence marks the finale of a sweeping fraud case that exposed greed and risk-taking across the loosely regulated world of cryptocurrencies. Just 18 months ago, Bankman-Fried was considered a corporate titan and one of the youngest billionaires on the planet. Then, virtually overnight, FTX imploded, erasing billions in customer savings.

Bankman-Fried has vowed to appeal his conviction. But in his remarks during his sentencing hearing in New York City today, he appeared to accept that he would be in prison for some time. “At the end of the day, my useful life is probably over now,” he said.

For more: My colleague explained how Bankman-Fried’s wild rise capitalized on the central myth of Silicon Valley.