FTX Launches Philanthropic Fund With Plans To Deploy at Least $100M

The cryptocurrency exchange plans to invest up to $1 billion this year

article-image

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried | Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • The fund will be a part of the FTX Foundation, a philanthropic organization funded primarily by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried
  • “We’re particularly keen to launch massively scalable projects: projects that could grow to productively spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per year,” the company said

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has launched its inaugural philanthropic fund in a bid to inject digital assets cash into charitable pursuits. 

The venture, Future Fund, will distribute at least $100 million — and perhaps as much as $1 billion — this year, “depending on how many outstanding opportunities we find,” the company said Monday. 

The fund falls under the umbrella of the FTX Foundation, a philanthropic organization funded primarily by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. It also counts major contributions from Alameda Research’s Co-CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang, and FTX’s Head of Engineering Nishad Singh.

“There are billions of people alive today,” Bankman-Fried tweeted. “There are trillions of people who could live great lives if we leave behind a better world to our children.”

The team compiled a list of 38 potential projects, including artificial intelligence ethics, pathogen sterilization technology, alternative voting systems, a new university or publishing house and support for movies and documentaries. 

“We’re particularly keen to launch massively scalable projects: projects that could grow to productively spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars per year,” the announcement said.

The move signifies the crypto exchange’s expansion beyond the digital asset world and into other real world industries. To date, FTX has set aside over $18 million for charity — including $8.7 million of user contributions and $9.5 million from user fees.

The company says its corporate lines and employees have made more than $10 million of charitable donations overall. 

Bankman-Fried, a 29-year-old worth $22.5 billion, last year donated $50 million and plans to donate $500 million next year, according to a video interview.

“I wanted to get rich not because I liked money, but because I wanted to give that money to charity,” Bankman-Fried said in the interview.

Last week, the company gave $25 to every Ukrainian registered on its platform after the country’s central bank temporarily suspended its currency market and limited withdrawals.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Pipe Network is a decentralized content delivery network (dCDN) that replaces the sparse, capital intensive data center footprint of traditional CDNs with a permissionless mesh of independent node operators. By orchestrating under-utilized resources that already exist at the edge, rather than purchasing or leasing thousands of servers, Pipe slashes capital intensity while letting supply expand autonomously in the places where bandwidth is scarcest and most expensive.

article-image

ETH’s “breakout marks a significant structural shift and clears the path towards…$4,000,” Kraken’s OTC desk noted

article-image

Fiscal dominance isn’t about interest rates and it isn’t about Trump, either

article-image

Firestarter Storage brings decentralized storage and delivery to Solana

article-image

After lengthy closing arguments on Wednesday, the case is now in the hands of 12 jurors

article-image

Analysts cite weak trading volume and regulatory progress as factors

article-image

Builders weigh in on Ethereum’s first decade and the decisions that will define its next one