Canadian pension fund to avoid crypto after the $95 million FTX loss

• The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan decided to steer clear of crypto investments after losing $95 million in FTX. 
• The lost funds represent just 0.05% of the fund’s portfolio, but was still enough to make the pension fund exit the crypto sector. 

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is no longer keen on crypto investments after losing $95 million in FTX, the Bahamas based bankrupt crypto exchange. The Canadian pension fund was one of several high-profile funds to invest in FTX between 2021 and 2022, before the exchange collapsed. 

Another Crypto Investment not in the cards

According to a report by the Financial Times, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan wrote off its entire stake in Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange after its downfall.

While the stake only represented 0.05% of the Canadian pension fund’s $190 billion portfolio, it was enough to discourage the fund from pursuing crypto investments for the time being.

Aside from the monetary loss, the fund has also come under scrutiny for backing a firm whose founder is now being investigated for perpetrating a fraud amounting to billions. 

Speaking on the amounts lost at FTX, the fund’s CEO Jo Taylor stated,

“We’re still working through what exactly happened there and you’re going to be careful. We took our time and did a lot of due diligence on the business. It didn’t turn out the way we thought. We weren’t necessarily shown all the information we needed to know to make a balanced decision.”

The pension fund learnt the risks associated with crypto investments the hard way. The loss faced by the Ontario fund with FTX was topped by Canada’s second largest pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

They wrote off a whopping $150 million that it had invested in bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network. The Quebec based fund has also decided to steer clear of crypto investments. 

The Ontario fund is now eyeing fresh opportunities in real estate after its misfortune with the crypto space.