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Venture capitalists and investors are redefining what it means to invest in cryptocurrency companies after the agreement between FTX and Binance, two of the world’s largest kriptovalyutnyh exchanges, which filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, but regardless of the shocking nature of the challenge, many of them have continued. . Ordinary business.
To recall, after Tuesday’s surprise announcement of signing a non-binding letter to acquire FTX, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Wednesday that Binance would pull out of the deal. As a result of recent corporate due diligence reports, as well as investigations into suspected mishandling of customer funds and US agencies.
That raised the risk of bankruptcy for FTX, an example of a centralized cryptocurrency exchange that previously raised nearly $2 billion from investors including Tiger Global Management, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, BlackRock and Insight Partners. : Some years. Sequoia invested in FTX last year, valuing the company at $18 billion.
For big investors like BlackRock, the chaos of the past few days will have little impact on their investment strategy, PitchBook cryptocurrency analyst Robert Le told MarketWatch. “I don’t think it will change their encryption method much. I think they will continue to invest. They have very, very big money.
While BlackRock wouldn’t comment on how big its investment in FTX is or whether the move will change the way it invests in cryptocurrency-related companies, a spokesperson told MarketWatch that its funds and accounts hold a very small minority position in FTX. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan did not comment on the nature of its investments. Sequoia Capital decreased its investment in FTX to $0.
Other investors believe in the broader cryptocurrency industry and its long-term potential. The founder of Dao5 Capital, a Web3 seed platform fund, said his company “has a long-term focus on developing the entire ecosystem without getting distracted by retail advertising and short-term trends.” He added, “The most interesting observation about the whole FTX debacle is how little attention it has gotten from the major cryptocurrency developers I know.”
Francesco Melpignano, CEO of the financial services platform Cadena Eco, believes that the FTX-Binance experiment should be a reminder to invest in the main innovative technologies, not in advertising. “FTX is not a web3 company that is fundamentally dedicated to innovation and financial restructuring. It is not a web2 business model that is about selling crypto products. Nothing in the technology stack can be achieved with blockchain technology,” Melipignano said.
But some believe the events of the past two days will weigh on the investor due diligence and ongoing investment. “We’re talking about the crypto winter… I think what’s happened in the last six months is like a crypto crash. And what you’re seeing right now is… a very important event. He added that this kind of incident has affected the confidence of the investors he had spoken to earlier.
Ledger CEO and President Pascal Gauthier told MarketWatch in an email. But by and large, investors aren’t holding back. “I have spoken to international investors in the US, Europe and Asia, and none of them have given up on cryptocurrencies. Investors recognize that Web3 is a phenomenon and isn’t going anywhere.