Crypto exchange giant FTX in talks to raise up to $1 billion, sources say

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Crypto exchange giant FTX in talks to raise up to $1 billion, sources say

According to a report from CNBC, people with knowledge of the matter said that FTX is in talks to raise up to $1 billion in fresh funding that would value the Crypto exchange giant at roughly $32 billion.

The valuation remains unchanged from its February fundraise, when the company secured $400 M in funding from high-profile investors including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp and Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

The announcement came just two weeks after FTX Ventures acquired a 30% stake in the New York-based alternative investment firm SkyBridge Capital. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. FTX Ventures is a multi-stage venture capital firm founded by Sam Bankman- Fried in 2022, and founded by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Sources told CNBC that the negotiations for funding are still ongoing and that the terms could change because they didn't want to be named because the talks are confidential. Sources told CNBC that FTX will use some of the fresh capital infusion, on top of the $400 million round, to fuel deal-making. An FTX spokeswoman wouldn't say anything about the story.

Bankman- Fried, 30, has become a white knight who throws lifelines to digital asset platforms and crypto startups that have faltered in recent months because of the winter causing some casualties.

In July, FTX also gave BlockFi a $250 million revolving credit facility and on Friday announced a deal that gives FTX the right to purchase it based on certain performance triggers. Bankman-Fried said that the goal of the bailouts was to protect customer assets and stop contagion from ricocheting through the system. FTX offered to buy bankruptcoin Voyager Digital in August, but was turned down for a low ball bid. He said that trust with consumers that things will work as advertised is incredibly important and incredibly hard to get back if you break it. It gets increasingly expensive with each of these, Bankman-Fried said, adding that the firm still has enough cash on hand to do a $2 billion deal if necessary.

If all that mattered was a single event, we could get above a couple billion, he said, stressing that isn't his preference.

On one or two occasions, Bankman- Fried, who made billions of cryptanalyms in Asia beginning in 2017, said he has used his own cash to backstop failing companies when it didn't make sense for FTX to do so.

He said that FTX has shareholders and we have a duty to do reasonable things by them and I feel more comfortable incinerating my own money.

FTX was founded in 2019 by 29 year old MIT graduate Sam Bankman-Fried and his co-founder Gary Wang. The Bahamas-based FTX offers futures and options as well as spot trading. FTX has become a key player in the space, rivaling Coinbase and Binance, once an unknown startup.

According to Forbes, Bankman- Fried, who currently resides in Hong Kong, is now worth at least $25 billion, making him the richest person in the world in criptocurrency. Sam graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013 at the age of 21. He loved math and loved solving problems and giving back to society.