Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto venture firm FTX Ventures is once again making moves in the market, this time buying a 30% stake in crypto firm SkyBridge Capital.
SkyBridge Capital will be using $40 million of the fresh funding to invest and hold cryptocurrencies on the firm's balance sheet.
Based in New York City, SkyBridge Capital is an investment firm led by Anthony Scaramucci, Troy Gaveski, Brett S. Messing, and Raymond Nolte. FTX Ventures is a venture fund launched in January 2022 and led by Amy Wu, previously a General Partner at LightSpeed Venture Partners.
A SkyBridge Capital representative confirmed the deal with Decrypt via email. "Sam is a visionary who has built incredible businesses that are synergistic with the future of SkyBridge," said Anthony Scaramucci," Scaramucci said in a prepared statement.
FTX Ventures has yet to respond to Decrypt's request for comment.
The latest move comes after SkyBridge paused investor redemptions in July for one of its funds with exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Called Legion Strategies, the fund managed roughly $230 million in assets, with nearly a quarter of those funds held in crypto as of February.
"The suspension is driven largely by a liquidity mismatch resulting from late-stage private investments in the fund. SkyBridge funds do not have leverage. There is zero risk of any asset liquidation," a Skybridge representative told Decrypt at the time.
Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital to Launch Private Ethereum Fund
SkyBridge Capital, the hedge fund run by former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, plans to launch a private Ethereum fund for its investors, according to reports. The firm, which in January launched a $25 million Bitcoin Fund, will also apply to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an Ethereum ETF, The Block reported. New York City-based SkyBridge Capital is one of the many high-profile companies that have applied to the SEC for a Bitcoin ETF. The company, wh...
The halt meant that Scaramucci's firm joined a long list of other crypto firms and projects taking similar decisions amid the wider crypto rout.
And while some firms have struggled in such adverse conditions, Sam Bankman-Fried has emerged as somewhat of a savior, shelling out millions to troubled companies.
FTX founder emerges as 'crypto savior'
As crypto prices slumped, Sam Bankman-Fried began shelling out lifelines to various crypto firms. In total, he handed out roughly $750 million in various investments to companies like BlockFi and Voyager Digital.
It's still unclear, however, if the recent investment in SkyBridge Capital were for the same reasons.
gm: Sam Bankman-Fried Talks Bailouts
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is the man of the moment in crypto as he has bailed out multiple insolvent companies. Some are calling him Atlas, while some are critical of these moves. Sam answers tough questions from Dan Roberts and Stacy Elliott on FTX's bailout strategy, the controversial Voyager loan, his market outlook, marketing mistakes by crypto lenders, FTX competitors Binance and Coinbase, his political donations, and what he's learned about management. Watch and make sure to subscribe to the gm podcast on Apple or Spotify.
As for the title of crypto "savior," Bankman-Fried said he was disappointed that no one else joined him in propping up the industry.
"I would be super happy for others to take that on instead of me. The reason that I have been doing it, frankly, is because it doesn't seem clear to me that there are others who are stepping up and doing that," he said on a recent episode of Decrypt's gm podcast.
