The FTX debacle may result in significant losses for Canada’s third-largest pension system.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan was one of the few investors who took part in the $400 million Series C investment round that FTX held in January.
Among the other institutional investors who took part in the round were SoftBank, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, and Paradigm.
Could the Investment Be North Of $200 Million?
A representative for the pension fund named Dan Madge declined to disclose the size of the transaction.
Madge did point out that FTX was not listed among the investments made by the pension fund in its 2021 annual report. According to Madge, the fund disclosed investments totaling $200 million for the year.
The exposure of the pension fund to FTX could be larger than the January investment.
At the time, FTX claimed that all Series C investors, including the fund, took part in FTX as well. A US Series A fundraising round valued the corporation at $8 billion.
According to Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX and Alameda Research, FTX.US has not been impacted by the controversy and will continue to exist independently even if its reported partnership with Binance is sealed.
What Insolvency Cases Could Mean For Crypto In Canada
This is not the first time a significant pension fund in Canada has experienced losses in the cryptocurrency market, according to Canadian media. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec began investing $150 million in Celsius in August and had to write that off after Celsius went insolvent.
As one of the biggest institutional investors in Canada, Caisse is in charge of various insurance and pension schemes in Quebec. As of June 2022, the corporation was in charge of $391.6 billion in assets.
The $400 million investment in the fundraising round might not put too much pressure on the fund, which currently manages approximately $242 billion in net assets.
However, there may be significant media backlash against the fund, which might lead to more regulatory oversight of investments in the cryptocurrency market.
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