FTXthe crypto conglomerate led by the billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried, is in talks with investors to raise up to $ 1 billion in new fundingaccording to CNBC sources, which would keep the company’s valuation at around $ 32 billion.
Also according to the sources familiar with the affair, the ongoing negotiations and the terms could change. CoinDesk previously reported on an upcoming fixed-valuation investment, following FTX’s latest capital increase in January. Existing investors are Temasek of Singapore, Vision Fund 2 di SoftBank e Tiger Global.
While rival FTX companies have been pummeled this year, due to the collapses of crypto settlements, FTX has tried to define itself as the consolidator of the market, swooping into buying crypto companies in difficulty at a discount. It is worth mentioning that the Bahamas-based company is privately owned, it did not suffer the collapse of Coinbase, whose shares lost three-quarters of its value in 2022.
Part of the fresh capital, in addition to the $ 400 million round in January, would go to fuel more deals, according to rumors. In July, FTX signed an agreement that gives it the option to buy the lender BlockFi. Additionally, FTX was in talks to acquire the South Korean company, Bithumb. But that’s not all, in August FTX offered to buy the bankrupt cryptocurrency trading and lending platform Voyager Digital but it was rejected because it was considered too low.
Bloomberg reported in June that FTX was also looking to buy Robinhoodalthough Bankman-Fried, who owns a significant stake in the broker, denied discussions for the acquisition.
The numbers of FTX
As reported by CNBC last month, FTX’s revenue increased more than 1,000% in 2021 $1.02 billion give it $89 million of the previous year. FTX posted a net profit of $388 million last year, up from just $ 17 million of the previous year.
While the decline came in the second quarter of 2021, as rising interest rates and four-decade high inflation pushed investors out of riskier assets. Since the end of March, bitcoin and ether have both been down by more than 60% and numerous cryptocurrency-focused brokers have been forced to liquidate. The momentum continued into the first half of 2022, when all financial assets were performing relatively well. The worst came in the second quarter with the Fed’s first rate hikes and investors exiting risky assets.
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Bankman-Fried, un ex quant trader di Wall Street, founded FTX three years ago. By continuing to raise funds and hoard goods. The billionaire is betting that crypto assets will recover and this will happen he will be ready to capture a big chunk of profits.