The collapse of FTX was perhaps one of the biggest scandals in crypto history. The bankrupt crypto exchange has dented the reputation of the entire industry and investor and venture capitalists’ confidence in the ecosystem has reached an all-time low. The demise of the third-largest crypto exchange at the time, of course, left bitcoin (BTC) and the entire crypto market bleeding profusely, and also attracted regulatory scrutiny from around the world to the sector.
The collapse of the Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) crypto exchange has also led to significant losses for the exchange’s financiers. This includes Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTTP), an independent organization responsible for providing pensions to more than 330,000 educators in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Pension fund does not want exposure to crypto
OTTP — which manages more than $190 billion in assets — lost its entire $95 million investment in FTX after it went under in November. OTTP was one of several funders of FTX, having invested a total of two times: during the bull market in 2021 and again during the Series C funding round in early 2022.
OTTP CEO Jo Taylor gave in a interview with The Financial Times that it would be unwise for the pension fund to rush into another crypto investment. Taylor said they are still processing what happened with FTX and would be much more careful before investing in emerging assets like crypto.
The pension fund is now focusing its investments more on traditional markets, such as real estate, and is seeking exposure to the private credit sector.
OTTP was not the only pension fund
Of course, FTX was not the only crypto company that had to die in 2022. Crypto lending platform Celsius was one of the other big boys that has hurt many crypto investors. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), another large pension fund, like OTTP’s previous story, lost its entire investment as a result of the bankruptcy. In total, $154.7 million went up in smoke for CDPQ.
