Before the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto companies earlier this month, nearly everyone in the industry thought his startups were highly profitable. While the young entrepreneur fed that assumption, it now appears that wasn’t the case, with hefty losses dating back to at least 2021, and likely before.

In a motion filed yesterday in the Delaware district court, the bankruptcy pros now managing Bankman-Fried’s companies said that the entities’ 2021 tax returns collectively showed a net operating loss carryover of $3.7 billion. That means his businesses, which primarily consist of trading firm Alameda Research, founded in 2017, and cryptocurrency exchange FTX, launched in 2019, had posted a net loss of $3.7 billion since their inception.

The gigantic loss is perplexing for two key reasons: It contradicts the image Bankman-Fried has portrayed of his startups, and it bucks the trend of a highly profitable 2021 for the cryptocurrency industry.