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.”


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

Unlocked by Template (11).png

Research

Union’s technical design brings measured improvements to crosschain interoperability. By combining a consensus-verified hub with novel constructs like state lenses and ZK proofs for client updates, Union achieves an interoperability protocol that is highly performant, trust-minimized, and scalable.

article-image

It’s unclear whether the celeb ever knew about the account made using his name

article-image

Sharps Technology raised $400 million in PIPE offering

article-image

Offchain Labs’ Tandem will work exclusively with Succinct on a zkVM

article-image

Fundstrat’s chief investment officer may be the apex bull

article-image

MetaMask now lets users create and restore wallets via social accounts

article-image

Filing seeks to expand regulated crypto exposure, with Coinbase Custody as fund custodian