FTX Gives Back to Crypto Miners

2 mins

In a bid to help crypto miners deal with the fallout of plummeting prices, the FTX compensated by way of funds.

In an interview with Bloomberg on July 1, Sam-Bankman Fried, co-founder and CEO of FTX, said that he was open to the idea of buying distressed crypto miners in order to help prevent further contagion in the crypto industry.

  • "When we think of the mining industry, they do play a little part in the possible spread of contagion," Bankman-Fried said. "Some miners were using their rigs as collateral for loans, and there might be a really good opportunity that comes along - I don't want to rule it out."
  • Bankman-Fried tweeted that he wasn't "particularly looking at miners" following the publication of the story.
  • According to data compiled by CoinDesk and industry participants, privately-owned and publicly-listed cryptocurrency miners are facing margin calls and defaults after they racked up debts of between $2 billion and $4 billion to finance the construction of their large facilities across North America.
  • On Friday, FTX announced that it had made a deal with crypto lender BlockFi for BlockFi to receive a $400 million credit facility and potentially be acquired by it for as much as $240 million. Alameda Research, which is owned by Bankman-Fried, previously extended a cash/USDC loan of $200 million and a revolving credit facility for 15,000 bitcoin ($294 million) to struggling crypto exchange Voyager Digital.
  • Mining stocks have fallen dramatically in value in 2018.

UPDATE (July 1, 21:54 UTC):Bankman-Fried's tweet has been added in the second bullet point.

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