FTX Ventures Denies Report That It's Merging With Alameda Research's Crypto VC Business

Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX Ventures denied a Bloomberg report Thursday that the venture capital arm of FTX and the VC operations of sister company Alameda Research would be merging.

The report said the move was made to consolidate parts of Bankman-Fried's empire during the extended decline in crypto prices, but both FTX Ventures chief Amy Wu and Bankman-Fried said it was inaccurate that the two groups were merging.

"The two entities, Alameda and FTX Ventures, did not merge," Wu told CoinDesk via Telegram. "Sam decided to launch FTX Ventures as a new fund and investment strategy [at the] beginning of the year because we felt there was a great opportunity to support entrepreneurs in the space our own way."

Shortly after the publication of the article, Bankman-Fried tweeted that Bloomberg's headline "seems like a big misrepresentation to me!"

As a venture capital investor, Alameda has backed a large number of crypto startups, including non-fungible token marketplace Magic Eden and Anchorage Digital. Meanwhile, FTX Ventures raised $2 billion in funding in January.

The latest news comes a day after Alameda Research's co-CEO, Sam Trabucco, stepped down into an advisory role, leaving Caroline Ellison as the sole CEO.

Read more: FTX Posted $1 Billion in Revenue Last Year Amid Crypto Rally: Report

UPDATE (August 25, 21:38 UTC): Headline and story updated to reflect FTX Venture's comments and Bankman-Fried's tweet.