FTX Ventures, an arm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange, will acquire a 30% stake in alternative asset manager SkyBridge Capital, the firms announced Sept. 9. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but SkyBridge will use $40 million of the proceeds to purchase cryptocurrencies to hold as a long-term investment, according to a statement.
SkyBridge founder and managing partner Anthony Scaramucci said about the deal on Twitter, “There’s a small universe of outside investors SkyBridge would ever consider partnering with, and @SBF_FTX is one of them.” He added separately, “This won’t significantly impact our day-to-day business and doesn’t change our strategy. […] We will remain a diversified asset firm, while investing heavily in blockchain.” SkyBridge managed about $2.5 billion, including over $800 million in digital assets, as of June 30, according to its website.
There’s a small universe of outside investors SkyBridge would ever consider partnering with, and @SBF_FTX is one of them. Sam is the real deal, and, in my opinion, is building @FTX_Official into the Amazon of financial services. He even has me dressing like a millennial. pic.twitter.com/yO9N6u24Rz
— Scaramucci.algo (@Scaramucci) September 9, 2022
The two firms collaborated on the SALT (SkyBridge Alternatives) Conferences and the Crypto Bahamas conference for the past year. Bankman-Fried told CNBC:
“We’ve gotten to know the team over the last year. […] We’ve been really excited about what they’ve been doing […] from the investment angle, growing out the community — the digital assets community and the traditional asset community — bringing them together.”
SkyBridge began investing in Bitcoin (BTC) in 2020 and Scaramucci has become a vocal proponent of crypto since then. The firm has been relatively untouched by the meltdown of the crypto market, although it announced the suspension of withdrawals from its crypto-exposed Legion Strategies fund in July.
Bankman-Fried’s firms have entered into a flurry of acquisition activity since the crypto winter began. Bankman-Fried bought a 7.6% share in online brokerage Robinhood in May. FTX US extended a $400 million revolving credit to BlockFi, and FTX offered to buy out some of the debts of bankrupt Voyager Digital in July. It has also made inroads into traditional finance.
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