Temasek turns into newest backer to write down down $275 mn funding in crypto alternate FTX

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings stated it will write down the worth of its complete funding of $275 million in collapsed cryptocurrency alternate FTX, within the newest transfer by FTX’s buyers.

“In view of FTX’s monetary place, we’ve got determined to write down down our full funding in FTX, no matter the end result of FTX’s chapter safety submitting,” Temasek stated in an in depth assertion on Thursday.

FTX’s different backers similar to SoftBank Group Corp’s Imaginative and prescient Fund and Sequoia Capital have additionally marked down their funding to zero after FTX, based by Sam Bankman-Fried, filed for chapter safety in the USA final week within the highest-profile crypto blowup to this point.

Temasek stated it had invested $210 million for a minority stake of about 1% in FTX Worldwide, and $65 million for a minority stake of about 1.5% in FTX US, throughout two funding rounds from October 2021 to January 2022.

“The price of our funding in FTX was 0.09% of our internet portfolio worth of S$403 billion ($294.3 billion) as of 31 March 2022,” it stated.

Temasek stated its early-stage investments made up about 6% of its complete portfolio.

It stated the thesis for its funding of FTX was to put money into a number one digital asset alternate that would offer it with “protocol agnostic and market impartial publicity” to crypto markets with a charge earnings mannequin and no buying and selling or stability sheet threat.

Temasek stated it at present had no direct publicity to cryptocurrencies.

It stated it had performed an intensive due diligence course of on FTX from February to October 2021, throughout which it had reviewed FTX’s audited monetary assertion, which confirmed it to be worthwhile.

“It’s obvious from this funding that maybe our perception within the actions, judgment, and management of Sam Bankman-Fried, fashioned from our interactions with him and views expressed in our discussions with others, would seem to have been misplaced,” it stated.