Ontario Teachers Fund Sank $95M in Failed FTX Empire

The Ontario Teachers Pension Fund backed crypto exchange FTX to invest in digital asset infrastructure, rather than any one particular token

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

In Ontario, a teachers’ pension fund is swept up in the current crypto crisis following sizable investments in FTX over the past year.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, which oversees the fund, said it had roughly $95 million tied up in Sam Bankman-Fried’s once-formidable empire, per Financial Post.

That empire has now crumbled after a number of scandals, including that FTX had commingled user assets with sister trading outfit Alameda Research. The unit’s balance sheet was weighted heavily toward FTX’s native token, FTT, which has crashed 85% over the three days.

Ontario Teachers first invested $75 million into Bahamas-based FTX and FTX.US in 2021 through its venture arm, Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), which was reportedly established two years earlier to pour money into emerging technology companies.

A further $20 million was dished out to FTX.US in January of this year. While crypto prices were then retracing from all-time highs set months earlier, the market’s outward appearance projected relative stability and growth.

At the time, FTX was valued at $32 billion following a $400 million raise, up from $25 billion in Oct. 2021. Venture capital mainstay Sequoia this week marked its FTX equity value down to $0.

It’s not clear how much the fund’s realized losses are at this stage. A spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

TVG’s head Olivia Steedman had previously justified the investments as a bet on crypto infrastructure as opposed to any one individual cryptocurrency, believing the industry projected long-term growth, according to Financial Post.

The fund’s FTX exposure reflects roughly 0.05% of its total assets and the potential collapse of FTX would have a limited impact, the board said per the report. The board manages more than 242 billion Canadian dollars ($182 billion) in net assets on behalf of Ontario school teachers.

Local teacher Darren Kleine, who does not have funds directly tied up in the fund, told Blockworks he expects some teachers would be infuriated that the pension is exposed to such a “volatile sector” of the market.

Under the fund’s structure, teachers are required to contribute to the plan, which is matched dollar for dollar by the Ontario government and participating employers.

While nothing has been announced, in previous times of high volatility, contribution requirements of teachers have increased to help the fund make up losses.

In August, Canada’s second-largest pension fund CDPQ wrote off its $150 million investment in now-bankrupt digital asset lender Celsius, saying it went into crypto “too soon.”


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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

4.png

Research

This months PPGC covered four main areas. Firstly, debriefing the progress and status of the mainnet implementation of the Ahmedabad hard fork. Secondly, a retrospective on the testnet phase of the Ahemdabad Hard Fork. Thirdly, an update on PIP-36 which involves replaying failed state syncs. Lastly, PIP-47 which pushes upgrades to the Polygon Protocol Council.

article-image

Institutions to test out the settlement of “digital assets and currencies” on a network that annually carries more than 5 billion financial messages

article-image

After Bitwise’s XRP ETF filing this week, one industry watcher notes: “Politics will determine whether this happens soon or in a few years”

article-image

Plus, a look back at some of the SEC’s biggest enforcement moves under Gurbir Grewal

article-image

The forward-looking financial system is being championed by several contributors to India’s UPI digital money system

article-image

Multiple teams are pursuing integration cross-chain and off-chain

article-image

An SEC spokesperson told Blockworks the Ripple judgment clashes with Supreme Court precedent and securities laws