Crypto exchange FTX is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into top digital assets lender BlockFi, while also acquiring stock-clearing firm Embed.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried explained on Twitter why the exchange viewed BlockFi as a sound investment opportunity during the crypto market downturn.
“Today we’re injecting $250 million into BlockFi and partnering with them so they can navigate the market from a position of strength.
BlockFi has careful risk management and great leadership.
So they successfully removed at-risk counterparties preemptively.
BlockFi customer assets are appropriately managed, with no debt/risk from 3AC, Celsius, etc…
And, going forward, we’re excited to partner with BlockFi to offer industry leading products.
We take our duty seriously to protect the digital asset ecosystem and its customers.”
In a separate press release, FTX.US announced the purchase of Embed to enhance its stock-trading platform FTX Stocks.
According to the announcement, FTX’s new acquisition will allow the firm to provide white-label brokerage services to other businesses, apps, and FTX Stocks’ users.
FTX.US president Brett Harrison says the purchase is in line with FTX’s goal of becoming a comprehensive investment app.
“As I mentioned when we launched FTX Stocks, our new equities and ETF trading platform, our goal at FTX is to provide a comprehensive trading application that spans all asset classes.
For equities and options trading this necessarily includes services such as clearing and custody, and our partnership with Embed showed us that they have built excellent technology and infrastructure to provide these services.”
