FTX CEO denies report about the merger of the exchange’s venture capital operations with Alameda Research

What’s new? FTX crypto exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has denied a Bloomberg report about the merger of the venture capital operations with Alameda Research, which is also owned by the billionaire. After the article was published, Bankman-Fried wrote on his Twitter account that the outlet distorts the facts. He explained that the exchange’s venture capital arm, FTX Ventures, has been investing more in startups recently, but there has been no talk of merging the companies.

this seems like a big misrepresentation to me!FTX has been doing more venture recently, and I guess maybe Alameda has been doing less? That's a really different thing than what the headline implies! https://t.co/qQUCOHtIUg— SBF (@SBF_FTX) August 25, 2022

More details about the situation. In an interview for CoinDesk, FTX Ventures head Amy Wu also said that Alameda and FTX Ventures had not merged. She clarified that Bankman-Fried launched the exchange’s venture capital arm back in early 2022 because he saw an opportunity to “support entrepreneurs in the space our own way.”

In addition, Sam Trabucco, one of Alameda’s executives, announced his stepping down to become an advisor. Caroline Ellison will remain the company’s sole CEO. Also, former Alameda Research Ventures partner Brian Lee moved to FTX Ventures.

It's with the same goal that I'm announcing today that I am stepping down as co-CEO of Alameda Research -- @carolinecapital will continue on as Alameda's CEO. I will stay on as an advisor, but otherwise will not continue to have a strong day-to-day presence at the company.— Sam Trabucco (@AlamedaTrabucco) August 24, 2022

Bankman-Fried earlier denied a Bloomberg article claiming FTX was in talks to buy online broker Robinhood. He bought a 7б6% stake in Robinhood for $648б29 million in May, but the head of FTX said that he did not intend to influence the broker, and the companies are focused on cooperation.

In June it was reported that FTX began negotiations to buy the South Korean platform Bithumb. Also, there was insider information that the crypto exchange would participate in the auction to buy back the assets of the bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital.