Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan writes down FTX investment to zero

Canada is an example of how this industry should move going forward: Canadian crypto exchange CEO Dean Skurka, president and interim CEO of WonderFi, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the fallout from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Skurka says while this is a setback for the crypto industry in the short term, he believes that in the longer term it will help capital flow to the right companies and help build the industry in the right way.

TORONTO — The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan says it is writing down its US$95-million investment in FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed last week, to zero.

The Ontario pension fund invested US$75 million in FTX International and its US entity FTX.US in October 2021 followed by an additional US$20 million in FTX.US in January this year.

The investments were made through Teachers' Venture Growth in a move to gain exposure to an emerging area in the financial technology sector.

Ontario Teachers' says the investment represented less than 0.05 per cent of its total net assets and equated to ownership of 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent of FTX International and FTX.US, respectively.

It says the loss will have a limited impact on the plan, given its size relative to its total net assets and strong financial position.

John Ray III, who was appointed CEO at FTX last week, has called the situation a "complete failure" of corporate control at the cryptocurrency exchange.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2022.