Crypto exchange FTX has 'a few billion' to support industry, says CEO

business-standard.com:

Sam Bankman-Fried, head of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX, said he and his company still have a "few billion" on hand to shore up struggling firms that could further destabilize the digital asset industry, but that the worst of the liquidity crunch has likely passed.

Bankman-Fried, 30, who is from California but lives in the Bahamas where FTX is based, has become crypto's white knight in recent weeks, throwing lifelines to digital asset platforms which have faltered as cryptocurrencies prices have cratered.

Bitcoin is down around 70% from its all-time November high of nearly $69,000.

"We're starting to get a few more companies reaching out to us," Bankman-Fried said in an interview. Those firms are generally not in dire situations, though some smaller crypto exchanges may still fail, he said, adding that the industry has moved beyond "other big shoes that have to drop." Bankman-Fried's crypto-trading firm, Alameda Research, gave crypto-lender Voyager Digital a $200 million cash and stablecoin revolving credit facility, and a facility of bitcoin, as the company faced losses from exposure to crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. On Wednesday, Voyager filed for bankruptcy.

Also in June, FTX handed U.S. cryptocurrency lender BlockFi a $250 million revolving credit facility and on Friday announced a deal giving FTX the right to purchase it based on certain performance triggers.

The goal of the bailouts was to protect customer assets and stop contagion from ricocheting through the system, Bankman-Fried said.

"Having trust with consumers that things will work as advertised is incredibly important and if broken is incredibly hard to get back," he said.

In January, FTX unveiled FTX Ventures, a $2 billion