FTX's Blockfolio Stake Was Paid for Mostly in FTT: Bloomberg
Around 94% of the $84 million FTX paid for its majority stake in Blockfolio was in the FTT token it invented.
Dec 22, 2022 at 9:23 a.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/BIKBJOR7VRAPBEP62L6WY2ADZU.jpg)
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Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX used its own token, FTT, to fund the $84 million purchase of a majority stake in trading platform Blockfolio in 2020, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Around 94% of the amount was in the token invented by FTX, according to the report, which cited financial documents. The deal gave FTX a 52% stake in the trading platform.
FTT was at the center of the downfall of the company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried after CoinDesk revealed in early November that sister firm Alameda Research's balance sheet was full of the token, exposing the parlous state of its finances and the close ties between the two.
Bankman-Fried's crypto empire rapidly disintegrated and the disgraced former CEO now faces criminal charges in the U.S., including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating campaign finance laws.
FTX did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for further comment.
Read more: SEC Calls FTT Exchange Token a Security
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Jamie Crawley is a CoinDesk news reporter based in London.
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