Sam-Bankman Fried’s crypto exchange FTX is reportedly engaged in talks with investors to raise $1 billion in new funding, as it looks to utilize extra capital for financial acquisitions during the bear market.
According to a Sept. 21 report from CNBC which cites sources close to the matter, the talks are still ongoing and the details could still be subject to change. If found to be true, the funding amount would keep the FTX’s current valuation of roughly $32 billion intact.
The potential $1 billion funding round would add to the $400 million FTX raised in January, and could signal strong investor faith in the firm despite the sector undergoing a lengthy crypto winter.
Other details are sparse at this stage, however, the sources said some of the new funds would be put towards more wheeling and dealing in the crypto space, which is unsurprising given how active FTX and SBF’s quantitative research firm Alamada Research have been in the bear market.
A potential FTX acquisition of beleaguered crypto lender Voyager Digital has been rumbling on since July, after it outlined a joint proposal with Alameda to purchase Voyager following its filing for bankruptcy.
The proposal was slammed by Voyager, describing it in New York bankruptcy court filings as “a low-ball bid dressed up as a white knight rescue” and as a move “designed to generate publicity for itself rather than value for Voyager’s customers.”
FTX has stayed on the hunt however, as Voyager started the auction of its remaining assets on Sept. 13.
According to a Sept. 20 report from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), both Binance and FTX are said to now be the leading bidders of Voyager’s assets, with Binance’s bid said to be around $50 million and FTX being just slightly under that figure. The auction is running until Sept. 29 and the WSJ stated that neither bid has been accepted at this stage.
Related: Alameda Research ‘happy to return’ $200M loan to Voyager Digital
Earlier this month FTX Ventures, an investment arm of the firm, announced that it would acquire a 30% stake in Anthony Scaramucci’s asset management firm SkyBridge Capital for an undisclosed amount.
In June FTX also entered into an agreement to purchase Canadian crypto platform Bitvo as part of broader plans to expand into Canada. A month prior FTX US also signed a deal with troubled lending firm BlockFi to provide it with a $400-million revolving credit facility and an option to buy the firm for around $240 million.
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