Crypto derivatives exchange FTX has set up a $2 billion fund to invest in crypto-industry startups, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Amy Wu, who heads the fund. Wu later confirmed the move in a tweet.
- FTX Ventures is one of the industry’s largest funds, the Journal said. The full funding came from FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. Investments could be as low as $100,000 and as high as hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Wu, who joined FTX this month from Lightspeed Venture Partners, said the fund could deploy all of the funds by next year, but that depends on the opportunities that FTX sees in the market. In October, FTX raised $420.7 million and was valued at $25 billion.
- Wu told the Journal she is particularly interested in crypto gaming companies, as well as insurance and security products.
- FTX Ventures joins funds set up by other crypto exchanges such as Binance Labs and Coinbase Ventures, both of which have been in existence for several years.
- Crypto-related funds have boomed in the past year as cryptocurrency prices rallied. In November, Paradigm launched a $2.5 billion fund, the largest in the crypto industry.
UPDATE (Jan. 14, 13:05 UTC): Adds fifth bullet point.
UPDATE (Jan. 14, 13:50 UTC): Adds details in first, second bullet points, largest crypto fund in fifth bullet.
UPDATE (Jan. 14, 13:59 UTC): Adds Wu tweet.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/14/crypto-exchange-ftx-establishes-2b-fund-to-invest-in-crypto-startups-report/