Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and CEO of bitcoin and altcoin exchange FTX, thinks the economic crisis in crypto has subsided. In an interview on Thursday, he stated that he no longer receives “a ton of calls” from distressed businesses, as he did in the early weeks of the crypto winter. He said the recovery could be “pretty quick” given a positive economic macro environment. Here are the details…
FTX can add to its balance sheet when Bitcoin drops to $15,000
Sam Bankman-Fried conducted an interview with Axios the other day. Bankman-Fried said FTX was “willing to lose a little” in its role of lender of last resort. He noted that Alameda Research’s $70 million loan, with a total value of approximately $500 million, given by Bankman-Fried to Voyager Digital is smaller than client assets and could be forfeited. That said, Bankman-Fried said he expects FTX to make a quarterly profit this year. FTX profits are “moving more or less in line with last year”.
The company has gained market share in the past few months. Bankman-Fried stated that he rejected the idea of adding Bitcoin (BTC) to FTX’s treasury. However, he said he would still value BTC in the $15,000 range. Bankman-Fried said FTX US’s quest to expand its financial product line in the US made progress over the past year, with “tens of thousands” on the waiting list. FTX is in the market for a stock clearing firm, with its acquisition of Embed Financial Technologies last month and its strategic investment in the US national stock exchange Investors Exchange (IEX).
Bankman-Fried draws attention to regulations in the crypto space
Bankman-Fried has repeatedly referred to the impact of the larger economy on the crypto market. In addition, he stressed that more regulatory clarity is needed to establish market structure and make consumers and institutions comfortable working in the crypto space. He was optimistic about the proposed US crypto regulation and said:
I’m pretty excited about the bills we’re seeing. […] I think they will go a long way.
Bankman-Fried said that even though the details of crypto regulation are different, crypto regulation may “look similar” to traditional finance regulation.
The latest about FTX
Major crypto exchange FTX, which has positioned itself as the savior of the industry, is reportedly planning to raise US$32 billion worth of fresh capital in January. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is in talks to raise new funding after the exchange went on a buying spree during the recent crypto market downturn. The report claimed that both FTX and FTX.US, the American arm of the crypto exchange, were collecting donations.
FTX is reportedly aiming for a round with “essentially the same valuation” as its January fundraiser. As reported at the time, FTX Trading Ltd., which owns and operates FTX, said they closed a $400 million fundraiser, raising the company’s valuation to $32 billion. Also in January, FTX US raised $400 million with a valuation of $8 billion.
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