Singapore's Temasek writes down its $275 million investment in collapsed FTX, calling its belief in founder Sam Bankman-Fried 'misplaced'

• Singapore's state-funded investment firm is writing down its entire investment in FTX following the crypto exchange's implosion.
• Temasek invested $275 million in FTX over two funding rounds.

Singapore's state-owned investment company is writing down its entire $275 million investment in FTX, adding to the list of backers who have booked losses following the fall of the crypto exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried.

Temasek had invested $210 million for a roughly 1% stock in FTX International and $65 million for a 1.5% stake in FTX US in two funding rounds, the firm said in a Thursday statement. The investments accounted for 0.09% of Temasek's net portfolio value of 403 billion Singapore dollars as of the end of March.

Temasek said the write-down will take place irrespective of the outcome of FTX's filing for bankruptcy protection.

"It is apparent from this investment that perhaps our belief in the actions, judgment and leadership of Sam Bankman-Fried, formed from our interactions with him and views expressed in our discussions with others, would appear to have been misplaced," Temasek said.

Less than a year after its $32 billion valuation, FTX is seeking bankruptcy protection in the US after Bankman-Fried last week failed to secure a bailout deal. Its eventual collapse appeared to take root earlier this month after crypto news site CoinDesk leaked a balance sheet that showed blurred funds between FTX and Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's trading firm.

Venture capital heavyweight Sequoia Capital said last week it's writing down the full value of its roughly $214 million investment in FTX's US and global businesses. Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group was also writing down its backing of less than $100 million to zero, Barron's reported last week.

Temasek invested in FTX in Series B and Series C funding rounds in October 2021 and January of this year.

"The thesis for our investment in FTX was to invest in a leading digital asset exchange providing us with protocol agnostic and market neutral exposure to crypto markets with a fee income model and no trading or balance sheet risk," Temasek said.

"There have been misperceptions that our investment in FTX is an investment into cryptocurrencies. To clarify, we currently have no direct exposure in cryptocurrencies."