FTX Ventures

FTX Ventures

FTX Ventures launched in January 2022 as the dedicated venture arm of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, with a stated $2 billion commitment under partner Amy Wu, formerly of Lightspeed Venture Partners. The fund was capitalized from FTX's operating balance sheet, a structure that linked its fate directly to the parent exchange — a relationship that proved terminal when FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. The vehicle pursued a concentrated, high-velocity strategy across crypto infrastructure, DeFi protocols, and adjacent fintech. Its most prominent deal was a minority stake in Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity, as part of a $150 million round alongside Animoca Brands and a16z (per The Block, January 2022). Other confirmed positions included LayerZero Labs, a cross-chain interoperability protocol, and Near Protocol, a layer-1 blockchain where FTX Ventures participated in a $350 million funding round (per CoinDesk, April 2022). The fund operated from the Bahamas alongside FTX's parent entity, with deal flow sourced through the exchange's network and Wu's Silicon Valley relationships. Team composition remained lean and never publicly disclosed in full. Wu recruited from both crypto-native operators and traditional venture, signaling an ambition to bridge Silicon Valley diligence with crypto deal velocity. The fund's deployment trajectory was interrupted by the FTX collapse in November 2022, which triggered the resignation of Wu and the freezing of all investment activity. As of the bankruptcy proceedings, the portfolio became subject to clawback analysis by the FTX estate under CEO John Ray III, who characterized the use of customer deposits for venture investments as a core recovery target. FTX Ventures represents a structural extreme — a venture arm funded entirely by exchange operating capital with no external LP base, no independent governance, and no survival mechanism once the parent failed. The unresolved clawback litigation, led by Sullivan & Cromwell as bankruptcy counsel, creates a novel legal question: whether portfolio company equity purchased with commingled customer funds can be unwound under fraudulent transfer law. No successor entity has emerged from the estate.