Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trading Arm Invested
Alameda Research, the trading firm founded by disgraced former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, has reportedly invested over $1 billion in a Bitcoin (BTC) mining company. According to a Bloomberg report, Alameda has bet heavily on BTC mining. Through a $1.15 billion investment in Genesis Digital Assets, a New York-based company that has been in business since 2013. The investments were reportedly spread over four rounds over seven months. According to Bloomberg, Alameda Research made the initial capital injection of approximately $100 million in August 2021, followed by another $550 million in January this year.
The trading company added $250 million in February and another $250 million in April.
According to documents viewed by Bloomberg, the $1.15 billion investment is the largest venture bet ever made by Alameda Research and its sister company FTX. In September 2021, Reuters reported that Genesis Digital Assets had raised $431 million in fresh capital from multiple investors, including FTX.
The Reuters report states that Genesis Digital Assets bought 20,000 mining machines from Chinese computer equipment maker Canaan to power its operations in North America and northern Europe. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has 74.9% below its all-time high and is trading at $17,320. This year, Bitcoin’s sharp corrective move is putting a lot of pressure on BTC mining operations as miners deal with significantly reduced revenues.
