FTX is Crypto’s Berkshire Hathaway while its CEO is the new J.P. Morgan 🎩; Why do we need a Short Bitcoin ETF? 🤔; Why tech layoffs are hitting late-stage startups the hardest? 😔
Good Morning FinTech, 22 June
Good day Everyone,
And happy Wednesday! Today’s issue is undoubtedly the most interesting one this week so far. We’re going to look at FTX and why it’s Crypto’s Berkshire Hathaway while its CEO is the new J.P. Morgan (they are thinking in decades!), see why do we need a Short Bitcoin ETF? (it actually makes sense), and explore why tech layoffs are hitting late-stage startups the hardest (if you’re working at one, be cautious). So without further ado, let’s jump straight into the good stuff:
FTX is Crypto’s Berkshire Hathaway while its CEO is the new J.P. Morgan 🎩
The news 🗞 FTX and its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) have been making some serious moves lately. I’ve earlier written that FTX will be one of the few players in the cryptocurrency space that should be making moves during the bear markets, especially in the M&A field. But I didn’t expect them to move that fast and do that much.
More on this 👉 Just yesterday the crypto exchange giant has given a $250M loan to BlockFi, a crypto lender that’s apparently struggling (though publicly said otherwise). The proceeds will be used to fulfill client balances across all accounts.
During the same day, FTX.US confirmed it was buying white-label clearing platform Embed as it continues to expand beyond crypto into equities. Terms of the deal were not provided. Embed is an independent registered broker-dealer and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
We can remember that last week, Bankman-Fried’s trading outfit Alameda Research bailed out crypto broker Voyager Digital while over the years, he’s acquired firms, like Liquid (now FTX Japan), that would have gone under following hacks and has contributed to bailout funds for attacked protocols and projects.
Why this is important? It shows that FTX is crypto’s Berkshire Hathaway while SBF is the new J.P. Morgan (and they are thinking in decades!). Here’s the takeaway: