FTX’s financials show a 1,000% increase in the exchange’s revenue from 2021.
The exchange has
embarked on an acquisition spree of several subsidiaries around the world.
FTX launched a stock
trading option for U.S residents to increase its profitability.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX is the
biggest winner from the chaos of the crypto markets, coming out relatively
unscathed. The cryptocurrency exchange hit revenues exceeding $1 billion after
a series of shrewd financial decisions.
A CNBC report claimed FTX revenues
surpassed $1 billion over the last year, rising by over 1,000% from 2020. The
data comes from audited financials and other internal documents seen by CNBC.
In 2020, revenue stood at a mere
$89 million as it struggled to thrive in a market dominated by Coinbase and
Binance. Fast forward to 2022, FTX recorded revenues of $270 million in the
first quarter of the year, and an investor deck pointed out that the firm
financials were healthy with no real cause for concern.
The effects of the downtrend of
crypto prices in the second quarter on FTX’s financials remain unclear
according to the report but its activities paint a positive picture.
Bankman-Fried, the FTX CEO, seemingly confirmed the report saying that the
figures are in the “correct ballpark.”
The journey to a billion dollars
FTX’s rise in the space was not
accidental, instead, it was the culmination of several calculated acquisitions.
Founded in 2019, FTX has been steadily growing its subsidiaries around the
world. The company has a portfolio of companies operating out of Turkey, the
UAE, Singapore, Germany, and Switzerland.
Alameda Research, a
trading firm owned by Bankman-Fried, contributes up to 7% of FTX trading
volumes. The company has a separate entity in the U.S called FTX.US that
recently launched the offering of trading stocks on the platform.
Apart from buying companies
worldwide, the rise of FTX may be attributed to genius marketing campaigns. The
firm’s Super Bowl ad and celebrity endorsements by Tom Brady and a bevy of
superstars were instrumental. A series of sports partnerships like acquiring
the naming rights of Miami’s NBA Arena signaled a desire to rub shoulders with
the top players.
The steadily expanding empire
During the crypto winter, FTX
emerged as a lender of last resort for several struggling companies. Sam
Bankman-Fried revealed that he feels he has a duty to the industry to save
firms in distress and noted that he has earmarked “a few billions” to
this.
FTX swung to the rescue of BlockFi by
extending a credit line to the company. Upping the ante, the company turned its
attention to troubled South Korean exchange Bithumb with plans to purchase the
company.
Source: zycrypto.com