FTX is trying to ramp up its expansion and acquisition spree. According to reports, Sam-Bankman Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX is in discussions with potential investors to acquire $1 billion in fresh cash as it seeks to use the additional funds for financial acquisitions during the down market.
The discussions are still ongoing, and the specifics might yet alter, according to a report from CNBC on September 21 that cites persons familiar with the situation. The fundraising amount would maintain the FTX’s existing worth of almost $32 billion if it turned out to be genuine.
In addition to the $400 million raised in January, the prospective $1 billion investment round might indicate significant investor confidence in the company despite the industry’s protracted crypto winter.
FTX to expand its acquisition game
Some of the fresh funds will reportedly be used for additional dealing in the cryptocurrency field, according to unnamed sources. This is not surprising considering how active FTX and SBF’s quantitative research company Alamada Research have been throughout the bear market.
Since July, when Bankman’s exchange laid out a joint bid with Alameda to acquire troubled crypto lender Voyager Digital following its bankruptcy filing, there have been rumblings about a prospective takeover of Voyager Digital by Bankman’s exchange.
The plan was criticized by Voyager, which called it “a low-ball bid disguised up as a white knight rescue” and a move “intended to generate notoriety for itself rather than value for Voyager’s consumers” in bankruptcy court documents in New York.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on September 20 that FTX and Binance are now the top bidders for Voyager’s assets, with FTX’s offer coming in just under $50 million and Binance’s estimated to be about the same amount. Both bids have not yet been approved, according to the WSJ, and the auction is still open until September 29.
An investment arm of the company called FTX Ventures announced earlier this month that it will pay an unknown sum to purchase a 30% share in Anthony Scaramucci’s asset management company SkyBridge Capital.
As part of larger aspirations to grow into Canada, the exchange also signed a deal to buy Canadian cryptocurrency platform Bitvo in June. An agreement for a $400 million revolving credit line and an option to purchase BlockFi for about $240 million was also struck by FTX US and the ailing lending company a month earlier.
