Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX and its American division FTX US are exploring raising fresh capital at around the same valuations as their fundraisings in the beginning of 2021, people with knowledge on the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday. FTX in January had raised $400M at a valuation of $32B. Separately, FTX US raised $400M at an $8B value. The potential moves come as Bankman-Fried deploys capital to rescue troubled crypto firms in the face of a widespread market downturn that has wiped out around $2T in market value in nearly eight months, according to CoinMarketCap data. Recall when FTX towards the end of June extended a $250M credit line to BlockFi to provide the crypto lender with "access to capital that further bolsters our balance sheet and platform strength."In May, Alameda Research, SBF's quant trading shop, had taken a large stake in crypto broker Voyager Digital (OTCPK:VYGVQ) which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. SBF is aware that his company may not recoup its relatively small investments in those firms as financial contagion effects keep spreading, but he said it's "well worth it." FTX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha. Previously, (July 6) Sam Bankman-Fried said his company has a "few billion" to support crypto space.
