Who Still Has Exposure to FTX?

Genesis, Wintermute, Multicoin and more – a running list of those with continued exposure to the embattled cryptocurrency exchange.

AccessTimeIconNov 9, 2022 at 7:10 p.m. UTC
Updated May 9, 2023 at 4:02 a.m. UTC
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CORRECTION (Nov. 9 19:53 UTC): Corrects subhead and the first entry to Genesis from Gemini.

The crypto industry is in turmoil after insolvency issues drove major exchange FTX to accept a nonbinding acquisition offer from rival Binance that might not go through. FTX suspended withdrawals on Tuesday, but some peers and major traders still have assets stuck on the exchange.

Genesis

In response to the market volatility on Tuesday, Genesis, a trading firm for institutional investors, tweeted on Nov. 9 that it "hedged and sold collateral resulting in a total loss of ~$7M across all counterparties, including Alameda."

Genesis reiterated that it has no material exposure to FTX’s native FTT token and has no lending relationship with FTX. The exchanges have a trading relationship – "amongst other exchanges" – but the exposure "has no impact on our ability to serve our clients."

On Thursday, Genesis tweeted that its derivatives business currently has about $175 million in locked funds in its FTX trading account, which doesn't impact its market-making activities. The trading firm also noted that its operating capital and net positions in FTX are not material to its business and recent events surrounding FTX haven't impeded the full functioning of its trading franchise.

Genesis and CoinDesk share the same parent company: Digital Currency Group.

Wintermute

The market maker, which helps provide liquidity to crypto exchanges, reduced its exposure to FTX once the initial solvency concerns were raised.

Wintermute tweeted that it has remaining funds on FTX and noted that “while this is not ideal, the amount is within our risk tolerances and does not have a significant impact on our overall financial position.”

Multicoin Capital

Crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin Capital has around 10% of the total assets under management of its Master Fund stuck as pending withdrawals on FTX, according to a letter from the firm viewed by The Block.

Multicoin was able to move about 24% of its FTX-held assets before the withdrawal freeze went into effect on Tuesday. The stuck assets include bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) and USD.

Amber Group

The market maker has no exposure to FTX sister company Alameda or the FTT token, but the trading firm has been an active participant on the FTX exchange.

“While we have significantly reduced our exposure over the course of the week, we still have withdrawals that have yet to be processed,” wrote the firm, noting that the stuck assets represent less than 10% of Amber Group’s total trading capital and doesn’t “pose a threat to our business operations or liquidity.”

Liquid Meta

Liquid Meta (LIQQF), a decentralized finance infrastructure and technology company, used FTX for a number of services, including onboarding and offboarding currencies and coins used in its liquidity mining operations, according to a press release. The company also used FTX for overcollateralized loans used in Liquid Meta’s operations.

As of Nov. 9, Liquid Meta held about $7.5 million in cash, stable coins and other digital assets via FTX, of which the company directly holds and has access to $3.2 million of borrowed stable coins and assets, leaving a net balance of approximately $4.3 million.

Liquid Meta doesn’t hold any FTT tokens.

CoinShares

European digital asset investment and trading group CoinShares disclosed “limited exposure” to FTX and no exposure to Alameda Research on Twitter. CoinShares “significantly reduced” its FTX exposure in the past week to 26.6 million British pounds ($31 million) of proprietary assets, and notes that its overall financial health remains strong.

The exposure includes 190 bitcoin (BTC) to the tune of $3.1 million and 1,000 ether (ETH) worth about $1.2 million in pending withdrawals. The exposure also includes roughly $25.9 million in USD and USDC and $110,000 of other assets.

Pantera Capital

Crypto-focused investment giant Pantera Capital said in blog post that most if its exposure to FTX was from "Blockfolio acquisition proceeds, which were denominated in FTT and FTX stock." However, it liquidated as much of FTT tokens as possible on November 8. Prior to that, FTT token positions totaled under 3% of total firm's assets under management (AUM), Pantera said. According to a its website, it had $4.5 billion in AUM.

UPDATE (Nov. 10, 14:30 UTC): Updates to add Liquid Meta's response.

UPDATE (Nov. 10, 16:02 UTC): Updates to add CoinShares' response.

UPDATE (Nov. 10 ,22:58 UTC): Updates Genesis' response to add additional details.

UPDATE (Nov. 12, 16:31 UTC): Updates to add Pantera Capital's response.

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CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Brandy Betz

Brandy covered crypto-related venture capital deals for CoinDesk.


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