Anthony Scaramucci remains to be bullish on Bitcoin -- and made crypto a big a part of SALT this yr.
Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos
Final week, Sam Bankman-Fried dropped $45 million to purchase a 30% stake in Skybridge Capital, the hedge fund run by Anthony Scaramucci. This week, Bankman-Fried failed to indicate up for the annual SALT convention in New York — SkyBridge’s greatest occasion of the yr.
Final yr, the 30-year-old billionaire was a fixture at SALT — urgent the flesh as he promoted his cryptocurrency alternate FTX to numerous buyers and reporters. However this week, Bankman-Fried wasn’t capable of make the journey from his residence within the Bahamas, in keeping with a supply.
As a substitute, Bankman-Fried made a digital look — although his crypto agency FTX was the important thing sponsor of this week’s convention. Earlier this yr, FTX and SkyBridge launched a crypto solely occasion, FTX Bahamas.
“It’s bizarre — if Bankman-Fried was at SALT the deal would have been the information of the convention,” one convention goer mentioned. “You'd assume he would present as much as enhance his funding and a present of assist.”
In the meantime, insiders famous SALT’s proceedings this week on the Javits Middle in New York have been noticeably much less targeted on crypto than final yr, though web3, and NFTs remained a subject of panel discussions. Certainly, one particular person concerned in persuading folks to register instructed The Publish, “I needed to guarantee potential attendees it wouldn’t be as crypto heavy this yr because it was final yr.”
Scaramucci — who famously did a 10-day stint as former President Trump’s communications chief — remains to be bullish on cryptocurrency regardless of his crypto-focused funds plummeting this yr as digital belongings tank, in keeping with stories.
Scaramucci mentioned in a press release to The Publish to not “overly learn into” Bankman-Fried’s absence — and that FTX was properly represented with numerous personnel there. “I feel the funding he simply made is assertion sufficient,” Scaramucci added.
FTX declined to remark.
Legion Methods, one in all SkyBridge’s closely crypto targeted funds is down roughly 30% this yr. In July, Skybridge needed to droop withdrawals from the $230 million Legion Methods fund, in keeping with a Bloomberg report. Greater than 20% of the fund is in cryptocurrency associated investments. Based on a July report in DealBook, the $2 billion SkyBridge flagship fund is dealing with virtually $900 million in withdrawals.
Whereas this week’s occasion nabbed heavy hitters — together with Todd Boehly, the Californi billionaire wbho simply purchased FS Chelsea — it lacked most of the family hedge fund names the convention is often identified for.
Final yr’s speaker roster included monetary titans like Point72’s Steven Cohen, Third Level’s Dan Loeb, Avenue’s Marc Lasry, and ARK Make investments’s Cathie Wooden.
After all, because the market volatility continues, many buyers could also be way more targeted on holding their funds afloat than opining about NFTs at conferences.
One financier who selected to skip this yr quipped, “For many buyers, it’s not a good time to be bragging about your efficiency.”
Bankman-Fried, 30, is price an estimated $12.4 billion in keeping with Forbes and has turn into a kind of crypto savior in the course of the large stoop in digital cash. He offered BlockFi, a crypto financial institution, with $250 million in credit score and dedicated $500 million to bail out crypto brokerage Voyager Digital over the summer time because the crypto market tanked.
“It’s odd Bankman-Fried wasn’t there… nevertheless it’s solely a $45 million deal,” the convention goer added.
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