Today, FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, announced the creation of a $1 billion fund to invest in “ambitious projects that will improve humanity’s long-term prospects.”
According to FTX’s Monday statement, the “Future Fund,” which is a subsidiary of the company’s charity arm The FTX Foundation, will invest at least $100 million this year and has the potential to invest up to $1 billion if it finds enough projects it likes.
FTX intends to invest the funds in huge, philanthropic enterprises that have the potential to “massively develop.” “Technology enterprises begin small and rapidly expand,” FTX said. “That is something we would want to see in charitable giving as well.”
It is looking for projects that, among other things, may advance artificial intelligence securely, mitigate the risk of biological tragedy, and eradicate global poverty.
“Our areas of interest include the safe development of artificial intelligence, reducing catastrophic risk, improving institutions, economic growth, great power relations, effective altruism, and more,” it added in its Monday announcement.
FTX is a well-known platform for trading cryptocurrencies and derivatives. It has the second-highest 24-hour futures volume, after Binance.
Spot trading is not synonymous with derivatives trading (where one buys and sells a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.) Traders use derivatives to buy and sell contracts that speculate on the future value of cryptocurrencies.
Until March 21, projects may apply for the first round of financing. Both nonprofits and for-profit organizations will be considered as long as their aims align with that of FTX.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, has become something of a celebrity in the cryptocurrency world: he was dubbed the world’s richest 29-year-old by Forbes last year, with a fortune of $22.5 billion.
And his firm, which few people knew about only a few years ago, now sponsors several big American sports teams, including the Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors of the NBA. It also signed a five-year deal with the Major League Baseball, America’s premier baseball league, last year.
Despite his substantial wealth, Bankman-Fried is more concerned with philanthropy. According to Bankman-Fried, he engages in earning to give, a kind of altruism in which an individual takes a high-paying career to devote their wealth to charity.
“When Sam was twenty years old, he set out to acquire as much money as possible to donate whatever he earned to charity,” the statement issued today reads.
