OTPP steering clear of cryptocurrencies following a massive loss from its FTX investment.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), which manages over $190 billion in assets, experienced a devastating blow when it lost $95 million in investments in the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX.
The pension fund had backed FTX in two instances: during the 2021 bull market and the exchange's Series C funding round in early 2022.
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In an interview with Financial Times, OTPP Chief Executive Jo Taylor expressed the pension fund's reluctance to dive into another crypto investment.
Taylor explained that the fund is still coming to terms with the FTX debacle and would proceed with extreme caution before investing in emerging assets like digital currencies. When asked about the investment in FTX, Taylor noted:
We took our time and did a lot of due diligence on the business. It didn’t turn out the way we thought. We weren’t necessarily shown all the information we needed to know to make a balanced decision.
The decision is not surprising as the pension fund is responsible for providing pensions to over 330,000 teachers and school workers.
Following the FTX fiasco, OTPP is turning its attention to more traditional markets like real estate and aims to expand its presence in the private credit sector. Over the next three years, the pension plan provider plans to invest 10 billion Canadian dollars ($7.4 billion) to build their portfolio in these domains.
The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan's costly experience with FTX has led them to adopt a more cautious approach to crypto investments and focus on traditional markets instead.
While some valuable investors are turning away from FTX, venture capital firm Tribe Capital is reportedly considering the revival of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX by injecting new capital. The firm aims to open a $250 million fundraising initiative, with $100 million coming from Tribe Capital and its partners.
