The venture capital unit of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX is taking a 30% stake in Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital.
SkyBridge has been wading deeper into crypto through direct token acquisitions as well as private investments in digital-asset firms, filings show. The new capital is intended to help SkyBridge’s growth, with a portion being used to buy $40 million worth of cryptocurrencies as a balance sheet investment, according to a statement on Friday.
“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,” Bankman-Fried said in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating closely with SkyBridge on its crypto investment activity and also working alongside them on promising non-crypto-related investments.”
Digital-token exposure accounted for more than $800 million of the overall $2.5 billion in assets managed by SkyBridge at the end of June, according to the firm’s website. In July, SkyBridge suspended withdrawals from its Legion Strategies fund, which had exposure to companies including FTX.
The FTX Ventures investment deepens the relationship between Scaramucci’s enterprises and Bankman-Fried’s companies. The two jointly launched a new crypto conference in the Bahamas, where FTX is located. The conference, held in April 2022, featured speakers including former US President Bill Clinton, ex-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and football star Tom Brady. Bankman-Fried’s FTX is the presenting sponsor for Scaramucci’s conference series, according to a June press release.
The two groups did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Earlier in June, Scaramucci described Bankman-Fried as “the new John Pierpont Morgan,” saying he was bailing out crypto companies and markets “the way the original J.P. Morgan did after the crisis of 1907.”
“Our business has continued to evolve since we founded the firm in 2005,” Scaramucci said. “We will remain a diversified asset management firm, while investing heavily in blockchain.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.