More light has been shed on where Alameda and Sam Bankman-Fried doled out billions of dollars. The dubious investment portfolio has raised eyebrows among the crypto community.
On Dec. 6, London’s Financial Times revealed some of Alameda’s burgeoning $5.4 billion investment portfolio. The outlet shared screenshots of an Excel spreadsheet dated early November detailing some of the firm’s investments.
Furthermore, over 500 illiquid investments were made by the FTX venture firm across ten holding companies.
Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran said it included “a lot of circular dealing, and investments that are clearly favors to friends.”
Alameda Investments Unveiled
Most of the investments were made in web3 and crypto firms. However, a lot of money was poured into more questionable companies.
Some of the startups included video game studios and betting platforms. There were also investments in online banks and publishers. More bizarrely, Alameda poured $1.5 million into a fertility clinic and $25 million into a strawberry farming company called 80 Acres Farms.
Around $500,000 was invested in a company developing a weight loss drug called Equator Therapeutics. There was also $1 million for a 5% share in a chemical company selling lotions called Fern Labs Inc.
Furthermore, Alameda also invested in two Chinese media outlets, Odaily, and Blockbeats, accounting for 25% and 30% of the shares.
The firm’s largest holding was in Genesis Digital Assets, a crypto mining firm that got $1.15 billion. The second largest investment was in an artificial intelligence research group Anthropic which had $500 million.
The portfolio also included stakes in FTX backers Sequoia Capital and Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital. Additionally, Elon Musk’s SpaceX also received investments from the venture firm.
The true extent of Alameda’s losses through some of these dubious investments has yet to surface — if it ever will.
SBF: Pleading Ignorance
SBF pleaded ignorance when asked why customer funds in FTX were used for Alameda investments. The venture arm’s financial decisions have been exclusively overseen by the firm’s CEO, Caroline Ellison, according to Bankman-Fried. Furthermore, Ellison was sighted in New York City this week, as reported by BeInCrypto.
Additionally, he has been digging himself into a deep hold this month with his recent media blitz. As a consequence, the crypto community has been quick to unleash a lambasting over his vagueness and evasion.
In a recent interview, former MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor accused SBF of borrowing money from himself. He also said SBF manipulated the price of the exchange’s native token, FTT, which hit an all-time high of $84 in September 2021.
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