There was no real money to begin with. If I create 1,000 tokens out of thin air and sell one to a friend for $1,000, I don't suddenly have $999,000 in net worth despite what crypto people try to claim.
They pumped the coins on the way up - Google willybot - which sucked retail money in. The smart exchange fraudsters cashed out on the way up. The uber-greedy exchange fraudsters held on thinking they could get more $$ if the price goes up, only to see that the price didn't go up, causing balance sheet holes which result in their demise a la ftx
From what I read, CZ liquidated his holdings of FTX's primary currency, which crashed its value. If that's the case, the "value" was due to scarcity. This "money" isn't gold-backed; it didn't "go" anywhere. It was a balloon. It deflated.
Where do you think it went?