We Lost “Majority” of Assets to FTX Collapse, Says Ikigai Fund CIO

Leading asset management company Ikigai joins the growing number of institutional investors with massive exposure to the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. 

Ikigai Reveals Exposure to FTX

Announcing the exposure on Monday, Travis Kling, the chief investment officer and co-founder at Ikigai, said the company invested a substantial amount of its total assets in FTX before the sudden collapse last week along with its associated entities. 

FTX was one of the major key players in the industry before its bankruptcy filing on Friday after suffering a brief liquidity crisis that allegedly stemmed from the mismanagement of users’ assets. 

Kling noted that Ikigai’s investments were stuck in FTX along with other investors who could not take out their assets before the exchange paused withdrawal.

 

Unfortunately, I have some pretty bad news to share. Last week Ikigai was caught up in the FTX collapse. We had a large majority of the hedge fund’s total assets on FTX. By the time we went to withdraw Monday mrng, we got very little out. We’re now stuck alongside everyone else.

— Travis Kling (@Travis_Kling) November 14, 2022

Although the asset management company did not reveal the size of its investments with FTX, it raised $30 million in May for its new venture fund dubbed the Ikigai Trust Revolution Opportunities. 

The funds managed by Kling were aimed at investing in the metaverse, decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, and the Web 3 ecosystem. 

Ikigai to Continue Trading Other Assets 

While the firm is unsure how the ongoing FTX saga will turn out for debtors, Kling disclosed that the crypto hedge fund would soon start trading other digital assets unaffected by the FTX bankruptcy.

The firm also plans to decide how to spend the remaining hedge funds outside of the platform. 

Kling expressed his displeasure with the industry’s inadequacies regarding regulation and its inability to fish out bad actors who misrepresent the space. 

“We’re letting way too many sociopaths get way too powerful, and then we all pay the price. If Ikigai continues on, we pledge to fight harder in this regard. It’s a fight worth fighting for,” he said. 

BlockFi Exposed to FTX

Meanwhile, Ikigai is one of many companies caught up in the ongoing FTX liquidity crunch. 

Earlier today, crypto lender BlockFi revealed it has significant exposure to FTX and its sister company Alameda Research among other corporate entities. The firm has paused deposits and withdrawals from the platform following the news of the FTX bankruptcy. 

In the aftermath of the Terra (LUNA) collapse in May, BlockFi received a $250 million revolving credit line from FTX to enable BlockFi to resume operations after its LUNA experience. 

However, the company said it still has “undrawn amounts from the credit line,” as well as other obligations owed to the crypto lender by Alameda, with some undisclosed amount of assets held at FTX left with the company before its bankruptcy proceedings at a U.S. court.