FTX chief signals another $1 billion for crypto acquisitions.

FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried, in an interview with CNBC, hinted at a willingness to spend “approximately one billion dollars” on crypto companies and projects.

Over the summer, firms linked to him directed a similar sum to support the industry. Before that, the FTX chief promised to spend “billions” on acquiring stakes in other companies.

According to Bankman-Fried, the key factors for financing projects were “customer support and ensuring their protection,” and also “preventing the spread of contagion across the ecosystem”.

The top executive reiterated the stance on helping participants even if this comes at the expense of the firm.

“It will not benefit anyone in the long term if we have real pain, real problems. It would be unfair to customers, and would not aid regulation. People need to operate in an ecosystem with the guarantee that they will not be left out on the street,” — he explained.

Earlier, in the Voyager Digital asset sale, FTX submitted the most advantageous bid. In June, Alameda Research provided a loan of $500 million to the crypto broker that had not yet filed for creditor protection.

In May, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, a Bankman-Fried-affiliated firm, acquired 7.6% stake in Robinhood. Later hedenied speculation about buying the online broker.

In June, FTX acquired the Canadian-regulated cryptocurrency platform Bitvo. According to media reports, the exchange is in talks with several companies focused on traditional securities, as well as buying a stake in the lending platform BlockFi.

Also in June, FTX opened a revolving credit line of $250 million for BlockFi. Subsequently the exchange’s U.S. subsidiary extended the firm another revolving credit line of $400 million, obtaining an option to acquire the platform for $240 million.

In August, Bloomberg reported Bankman-Fried’s interest in acquiring 58% of Huobi’s shares (the executive later denied this), a month earlier — talks about buying the Korean platform Bithumb.

Last year, FTX agreed to acquire the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid and its subsidiaries. In June it was renamed to FTX Japan, which became a unit for serving local customers.

In January 2022, FTX raised $400 million at a valuation of $32 billion. In July it became known that talks were under way to secure additional investor backing.

For 2021, the exchange posted revenue of more than $1 billion.

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