Alameda Research, the trading firm founded by the disgraced former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, reportedly invested well over a billion dollars into a Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Alameda bet big on BTC mining via a $1.15 billion investment in Genesis Digital Assets, a New York-based company that has been operational since 2013.
The investments were reportedly spanned across four rounds within seven months. According to Bloomberg, Alameda Research made the initial capital injection of around $100 million in August 2021, followed by an additional $550 million in January this year. The trading firm added $250 million in February and another $250 million in April.
According to documents seen by Bloomberg, the $1.15 billion investment is the largest venture bet of Alameda Research and its sister firm FTX.
In September of 2021, Reuters reported that Genesis Digital Assets raised $431 million in fresh capital from multiple investors, including FTX. The Reuters report stated that at the time, Genesis Digital Assets had bought 20,000 mining machines from Chinese computer hardward manufacturer Canaan to boost its Northern American and Northern European operations.
At time of writing, Bitcoin is 74.9% down from its all-time high, trading at $17,320. Bitcoin’s sharp corrective move this year is putting heavy stress on BTC mining operations as miners have to deal with significantly reduced revenues.
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