Temasek Of Singapore Writes Down A $275M Investment In FTX

Snorlax

Nov 17, 2022•2 min read

Temasek Of Singapore Writes Down A $275M Investment In FTX

The Singaporean investment fund stated that it spent 8 months researching FTX before purchasing a 1% stake in the exchange in 2021.

Temasek, Singapore's state investment firm, has written off its entire stake in FTX, claiming that its overall exposure to the collapsed exchange is insignificant in comparison to its overall portfolio holdings.

Temasek said in a statement released Thursday that the $210 million investment, which accounted for 1% of FTX International and $65 million for 1.5% of FTX.US, represents 0.09% of the firm's net portfolio value of $293.5 billion.

"There has been some confusion that our investment in FTX is an investment in cryptocurrencies; to clarify, we currently have no direct exposure to cryptocurrencies," the firm said in a statement.

Temasek stated that the failure of its FTX investment is not an indictment of cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology, but rather a poor bet on Bankman-Fried.

"It appears from this investment that our conviction in Sam Bankman-conduct, Fried's judgment, and leadership, based from our interactions with him and opinions stated in our talks with others, may have been misguided," Temasek said.

"While this write-down of our FTX investment will have no meaningful impact on our overall performance, we take all investment losses seriously, and we will learn from this."

Temasek stated that it did eight months of due diligence on FTX before investing, reviewing its audited financial statements, analyzing regulatory risk, and cyber security threats.

"We also gathered qualitative feedback on the company and management team based on interviews with people familiar with the company, including employees, industry participants, and other investors," the company stated.
Sequoia Capital announced last week that it was reducing its $200 million investment in the exchange to zero.

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