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0 CommentsTop investment deals across the crypto sector over the last week (Nov. 12–18, 2022):
Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager reopens bidding process after FTX’s collapse
Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital is ending the deal to sell itself to FTX US after the latter also declared bankruptcy on Friday. Voyager also acknowledged Friday it has a $3 million balance currently locked up on FTX. In September, FTX paid $1.4 billion to win a bidding war to acquire Voyager’s assets, beating out other crypto firms, including rival exchange Binance and digital asset investment firm Wave Financial.
Matter Labs raises $200 million to boost zkSync adoption and grow its team
Matter Labs, the parent company of Ethereum scaling protocol zkSync, has raised $200 million in a Series C round. Blockchain Capital and Dragonfly led the investment, with participation from LightSpeed Venture Partners, Variant, and Andreessen Horowitz — who had led the previous $50 million Series B round — according to a statement. Matter Labs did not disclose the valuation.
The funds from its Series C round will be used to launch first-party projects built by Matter Labs itself, grow the Matter Labs team, and fund projects built by external parties. It will also be used to start Matter University, which will act as its onboarding and education platform for users and builders.
Market maker B2C2 offers to buy loans from Genesis crypto-lending unit
On Nov. 16, prominent crypto market maker B2C2 offered to purchase loans from the struggling crypto financial firm Genesis. B2C2 founder and director Max Boonen originally tweeted the offer as a way of helping to “alleviate the current liquidity shortfall.” The lending arm of the crypto financial firm Genesis halted customer withdrawals earlier, citing the impact of the collapse of FTX.
Multicoin lost 55% of its crypto funds capital this month due to FTX’s bankruptcy
Crypto-focused asset manager Multicoin Capital lost more than half of its flagship fund’s capital in two weeks. The drop of about 55% was triggered by FTX’s rapid descent into insolvency, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The figure excludes illiquid, side-pocketed investments.
Multicoin, one of the largest and oldest investment managers in the sector, would like to write down all of its FTX positions to zero for the time being, with the final say going to the fund’s auditors and administrators.
Bitget increases protection fund to $300 million to safeguard users after FTX’s fall
Crypto exchange Bitget announces that it will increase its protection fund to $300 million to provide better protection and further assurance to its users. The initiatives come along with a $5 million Builders’ Fund to support FTX users, coupled with the plan to share the Merkle Tree Proof of Reserves, which is under preparation and will be released in 30 days.
OKX exchange plans a $100 million market recovery fund
OKX, the world’s second-largest crypto-only exchange by trading volume, said it would support an industry struggling with the collapse of the rival FTX exchange with a $100 million market recovery fund. The company told The Block that the fund would provide assistance to projects struggling due to issues such as lack of financing.
Singapore’s Temasek writes down $275 million investment in FTX
In a statement on Nov. 17, Singapore’s government-owned investment firm Temasek said it wrote down its full investment in FTX “irrespective of the outcome of FTX’s bankruptcy protection filing.” Temasek invested $210 million in FTX international, giving it a minority stake of about 1%. It also invested $65 million for a minority stake of about 1.5% in FTX US in two funding rounds from October 2021 to January 2022. The firm said the total cost of its investment was 0.09% of its net portfolio value of about $293 billion.
Binance is reportedly showing interest in acquiring Voyager and Genesis
Binance.US, the American arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, is preparing to bid for bankrupt lending platform Voyager Digital, sources report. Meanwhile, the founder of Binance is reportedly interested in acquiring the loan book of Genesis, another insolvent crypto lender.
Nexo had offered BlockFi an $850 million deal in July
Crypto lender Nexo made an unsuccessful offer to acquire troubled rival BlockFi earlier this year as part of a proposed deal worth about $850 million. The deal included $30 million for the acquisition of 51% of BlockFi as well as a $500 million credit line.
Crypto lender Genesis had sought emergency loan of $1 billion
Crypto lender Genesis was seeking an emergency loan of $1 billion from investors before it told clients it was suspending redemptions this week, as the shockwaves from FTX’s collapse continue through the crypto industry. A confidential fundraising document states that Genesis needed access to the credit facility by Nov. 14 morning, citing a “liquidity crunch due to certain illiquid assets on its balance sheet.” The firm didn’t get the money, the WSJ reported.
Canada’s pension giant plans to write off all $95 million invested in FTX
Ontario Teachers’, one of Canada’s largest pension funds with nearly $250 billion in assets under management (AUM), will write down the entirety of its $95 million investment in FTX after the troubled crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy protection. The investments were made through the Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG) platform and represented less than 0.05% of the fund’s total net assets, according to the statement.
$138 billion investment manager Man Group to launch crypto hedge fund: Bloomberg
On Nov. 18, Bloomberg reported that London-based investment manager Man Group Plc, with $138.4 billion in assets under management, is preparing to launch its crypto-focused hedge fund by the end of the year through its computer-led trading unit AHL. The news is signaling continued institutional investor appetite for digital assets despite the epic collapse of FTX and Alameda Research.
