SkyBridge Capital temporarily suspends withdrawals from Legion Strategies Fund

Investor withdrawal services at Legion Strategies, a hedge fund with a fair amount of crypto exposure, run by Anthony Scaramucci’s global investment company Skybridge Capital, have been suspended. The offshore fund, which is based in the Cayman Islands, has about $250 million in it.

SkyBridge suspends Legion Strategies until capital raise

Skybridge Capital has announced the suspension of withdrawals from its Legion Strategies fund, extending the wave of withdrawal restrictions and blocked access to the cryptocurrency industry. Anthony Scaramucci, the company’s founder, made the announcement in a CNBC interview on July 19.

“Our board made a decision to temporarily suspend until we can raise capital inside the fund and then make sure when people get out they get out orderly,” says @scaramucci. “About 18% of the fund is in what we would call #crypto exposure.” pic.twitter.com/j5AxY871n7

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 19, 2022

Notably, Legion Strategies is one of the smaller funds managed by the company, and it has never seen withdrawal suspension before this since its founding in 1994.

In order to allow Legion Strategies to raise capital inside the fund, the board of directors has agreed to temporarily halt withdrawals, according to Scaramucci.

“The [Legion Strategies] fund is unlevered, so there’s definitely no fear of any liquidation whatsoever, and about 18% of the fund is in what we would call crypto exposure.”

As examples of the fund’s exposure to cryptocurrencies, the founder of Skybridge Capital referenced Bitcoin and the stock of the exchange platform FTX. The company’s website offers investments in a number of cryptocurrency-related businesses, including Kraken, Helium, NYDIG, Lightning, and Genesis Digital Assets. However, they are not directly associated with Legion Strategies. Scaramucci claims that while the Legion Strategies fund has lost 30% so far this year, it gained 5% in July 2022.

“Everybody signed an investor agreement and this type of flexibility, so I don’t think there are any surprises here given what’s going on in the overall market,” Scaramucci added.

Skybridge Capital declared in April 2022 that it was changing its position to “eventually be a leading cryptocurrency asset manager and adviser.” Moreover, the founder of Skybridge Capital stated that the digital asset industry has a very promising future during the Australian Financial Review Crypto Summit that same month. 

It’s interesting to note that Scaramucci predicted outright in January that BTC will reach the $500,000 level in the next four to five years, as TheCoinRise reported.