In line with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Singapore's state-owned funding agency Temasek has suffered far more than monetary losses from investing in FTX.
Wong, who can also be finance minister, believes Temasek's $275 million funding in FTX has carried out important harm to the corporate's repute. The official addressed mounting criticism of Temasek's FTX publicity at a Nov. 27 parliamentary session, in response to a report by the South China Morning Put up.
The Prime Minister pressured that FTX's collapse was as a consequence of a "very poorly run firm" in addition to attainable fraud and misappropriation of consumer funds.
"Subsequently, what occurred to FTX inflicted not solely a monetary loss on Temasek, but in addition reputational harm," the official mentioned, including that Temasek initiated an inside funding evaluate to enhance processes and study classes for the long run.
Wong pressured that investments from different massive institutional buyers like BlackRock and Sequoia Capital aren't mitigating this reputational harm.
Temasek, which is wholly owned by the Treasury Secretary however operates independently, mentioned Nov. 17 that it had written off its whole $275 million FTX funding. The quantity represented simply 0.09% of Temasek's $403 billion portfolio as of March 2022. In line with Wong, losses associated to FTX wouldn't have an effect on the contribution of buyers to the contribution of internet funding returns, ie the quantity of presidency income from the curiosity earned on its reserves.
Other than addressing issues surrounding FTX and Temasek, Wong additionally argued that Singapore has no ambitions to turn out to be a crypto hub, however relatively strives to be a “accountable and modern digital asset participant.”
“A number of the earlier optimism about blockchain applied sciences has been confirmed unsuitable [...] not effectively positioned. I feel it provides a extra practical concept of what these applied sciences can do," Wong mentioned. He additionally pressured that crypto buyers have to be ready to lose all of their investments in crypto, including, "No regulation can eradicate that threat."
Associated: The collapse of FTX put the Singapore authorities in a parliamentary scorching seat
Though Temasek has written off its stake in FTX, the state-owned firm seems to nonetheless maintain stakes in lots of different business platforms. Though Temasek doesn't make investments straight in crypto, he's identified for taking part in a number of funding rounds for main crypto firms together with Binance and Amber Group.
In August, Temasek additionally reportedly led a $110 million strategic funding spherical for main metaverse and blockchain gaming firm Animoca Manufacturers.
Temasek didn't instantly reply to Cointelegraph's request for remark.
