FTX Ventures, a $2 billion venture capital
firm based in Nassau, Bahamas, is planning on buying a 30% stake in SkyBridge,
a global hedge fund and alternative asset manager.
SkyBridge Capital, which was founded in
2005 by Anthony Scaramucci, a former aide of ex-President Donald Trump,
announced the planned investment on Friday in a statement.
The hedge fund, however, did not disclose
the financial terms of the deal.
FTX Ventures in the statement said it will provide an additional working capital to
SkyBridge Capital in addition to the acquisition.
And SkyBridge Capital said it will use a portion of the amount received to buy $40 million in
cryptocurrencies to hold as a long-term investment.
“The deal is the latest collaboration
between SkyBridge and FTX, following the multi-year partnership to sponsor
global SALT conferences in North America, Asia and the Middle East, and
co-present Crypto Bahamas, the leading institutional digital assets conference
that launched in April 2022,” SkyBridge Capital explained.
“The firms will expand their collaboration
on venture and digital asset investing across current and future product
offering,” the hedge fund firm added.
FTX and Crypto Investments
Commenting on the partnership, Scaramucci,
the Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge, noted that his company “will
remain a diversified asset management firm.” He added that the company will invest heavily in
blockchain.
Also speaking, Sam Bankman-Fried, the
billionaire leader of FTX Ventures, noted that the venture capital firm was
looking forward to working closely with SkyBridge Capital on its crypto investment
activities.
FTX Ventures also plans to work with SkyBridge “on promising non-crypto-related investments,”
Bankman-Fried added.
In early 2022, FTX Ventures invested $100 million in
Dave, a fast-growing banking app, to accelerate the expansion of the global
cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In the aftermath of the recent crash in
prices in the cryptocurrency markets, cryptocurrency exchange FTX extended
helping hands to crypto lenders BlockFi and Voyager Digital as
well as bankrupt lender
Celsius.
Additionally, Bankman-Fried in May acquired a 7.6% stake in
Robinhood, a US commission-free stock trading and investing app.
A regulatory filing showed that the billionaire founder…
