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The investment arm of Samuel Bankman-Fried’s crypto derivatives exchange FTX is buying a sizeable stake in Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital.
The former White House Communications Director revealed that FTX Ventures is acquiring a 30% stake in the alternative investments firm.
“FTX Ventures and [FTX] are acquiring a stake in [SkyBridge Capital]. Sam and I have gotten to know each other for the last two years and have partnered together on a few things (including SALT Conference and Crypto Bahamas). We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership.
There’s a small universe of outside investors SkyBridge would ever consider partnering with, and Sam Bankman-Fried is one of them. Sam is the real deal, and, in my opinion, is building FTX into the Amazon of financial services. He even has me dressing like a millennial.”
SkyBridge says it will use some of the funds from the sale to buy $40 million in cryptocurrencies to hold as a long-term investment. The company says it is currently profitable and debt-free despite the crypto downturn.
In a new press release, Bankman-Fried the purchase by FTX Ventures builds on his relationship with Scaramucci.
“After working with Anthony and his team following our SALT conference partnership, we saw there was an opportunity to work closer together in ways that could complement both our businesses. We look forward to collaborating closely with SkyBridge on its crypto investment activity and also working alongside them on promising non-crypto-related investments.”
The deal follows FTX’s spree of investments in the crypto space in an effort to buoy the industry including a $250 million deal with lending platform BlockFi.
