Crypto tycoon skips SALT conference after taking 30% stake in SkyBridge
Final week, Sam Bankman-Fried dropped $45 million to purchase a 30% stake in Skybridge Capital, the hedge fund run by Anthony Scaramucci. This week, Bankman-Fried failed to point out up for the annual SALT convention in New York — SkyBridge’s largest occasion of the 12 months.
Final 12 months, the 30-year-old billionaire was a fixture at SALT — urgent the flesh as he promoted his cryptocurrency trade FTX to numerous traders and reporters. However this week, Bankman-Fried wasn’t capable of make the journey from his residence within the Bahamas, based on a supply.
As a substitute, Bankman-Fried made a digital look — even supposing his crypto agency FTX was the important thing sponsor of this week’s convention. Earlier this 12 months, FTX and SkyBridge launched a crypto solely occasion, FTX Bahamas.
“It’s bizarre — if Bankman-Fried was at SALT the deal would have been the information of the convention,” one convention goer mentioned. “You’d suppose he would present as much as enhance his funding and a present of help.”
In the meantime, insiders famous SALT’s proceedings this week on the Javits Middle in New York had been noticeably much less targeted on crypto than final 12 months, though web3, and NFTs remained a subject of panel discussions. Certainly, one individual concerned in persuading folks to register informed The Submit, “I needed to guarantee potential attendees it wouldn’t be as crypto heavy this 12 months because it was final 12 months.”
Scaramucci — who famously did a 10-day stint as former President Trump’s communications chief — continues to be bullish on cryptocurrency regardless of his crypto-focused funds plummeting this 12 months as digital property tank, based on experiences.
Scaramucci mentioned in an announcement to The Submit to not “overly learn into” Bankman-Fried’s absence — and that FTX was properly represented with numerous personnel there. “I feel the funding he simply made is assertion sufficient,” Scaramucci added.
FTX declined to remark.
Legion Methods, one among SkyBridge’s closely crypto targeted funds is down roughly 30% this 12 months. In July, Skybridge needed to droop withdrawals from the $230 million Legion Methods fund, based on a Bloomberg report. Greater than 20% of the fund is in cryptocurrency associated investments. In line with a July report in DealBook, the $2 billion SkyBridge flagship fund is going through nearly $900 million in withdrawals.
Whereas this week’s occasion nabbed heavy hitters — together with Todd Boehly, the Californi billionaire wbho simply purchased FS Chelsea — it lacked most of the family hedge fund names the convention is normally recognized for.
Final 12 months’s speaker roster included monetary titans like Point72’s Steven Cohen, Third Level’s Dan Loeb, Avenue’s Marc Lasry, and ARK Make investments’s Cathie Wooden.
In fact, because the market volatility continues, many traders could also be way more targeted on maintaining their funds afloat than opining about NFTs at conferences.
One financier who selected to skip this 12 months quipped, “For many traders, it’s not a good time to be bragging about your efficiency.”
Bankman-Fried, 30, is price an estimated $12.4 billion based on Forbes and has turn out to be a type of crypto savior throughout the huge droop in digital cash. He supplied BlockFi, a crypto financial institution, with $250 million in credit score and dedicated $500 million to bail out crypto brokerage Voyager Digital over the summer season because the crypto market tanked.
“It’s odd Bankman-Fried wasn’t there… however it’s solely a $45 million deal,” the convention goer added.
