Onatario Teachers’ Pension Plan Hesitant to Invest in Crypto After FTX Implosion

The implosion of crypto exchange FTX, which occurred months ago, is still having an impact on the global economy. 

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Lost $95M in FTX Collapse

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) has opted to divert its investment out of cryptocurrencies, considering it completely lost its $95 million stake in the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX after it failed in November 2022.

One of the numerous investors that supported the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange was OTPP, which made two investments: first in 2021 during the market’s peak and once in early 2022 during the exchange’s Series C fundraising round.

Not the Right Time to Invest in Crypto Firms

Jo Taylor, the chief executive of OTPP, told the Financial Times that it wouldn’t be a good idea for the pension fund to make a hasty investment in a different cryptocurrency firm after losing significant money in FTX.

When it comes to investing in developing assets like digital currencies, Taylor said they would be considerably more cautious since they are still processing what occurred with the exchange.

OTPP to Focus on Real Estate

Over 330,000 teachers and school employees get pensions through the pension system. Taylor explained: 

“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.”

Now that it wants to obtain access to the financial services market, the pension fund is trying to focus its investment on more conventional areas like real estate.

The supplier of investment plans intends to make 10 billion Canadian dollars ($7.4 billion) in investments over the following three years to expand its portfolio in the aforementioned industries.

Crypto Firms’ Liquidity Affected by FTX Implosion

Notably, the collapse of the US-based exchange FTX sparked an outbreak of panic among players in the cryptocurrency industry who feared that additional trading platforms may have liquidity problems and ultimately go out of business. 

However, soon after the collapse, Sequoia, FalconX, a cryptocurrency brokerage, and Crypto.com have already said that their investment in FTX had no effect on the fund they administer.

It is also crucial to note that there are plans to revive FTX as the crypto exchange has successfully recovered around $7.3 billion in liquid assets.