Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said to shun crypto after $95M FTX wipeout

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan will stay away from the cryptocurrency space after writing off its entire $95M stake in failed crypto exchange FTX ( FTT-USD ), the Financial Times reported Friday, citing the fund's chief executive in an interview. The $190B Canadian pension plan is "still working through what exactly happened there," OTPP CEO Jo Taylor told the FT , adding that it would be imprudent to rush into another crypto play based in part on "feedback from our members." The move to steer clear of crypto comes as OTPP, along with a slew of other FTX ( FTT-USD ) backers, has reportedly come under scrutiny for the investment in FTX whose founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is accused of defrauding investors and customers. That seemingly offsets the fact that OTPP's $95M stake represented only ~0.05% of its total net assets. In the latest batch of charges brought against the onetime billionaire, Bankman-Fried was accused last month of bribing Chinese government officials. He pleaded not guilty to the additional charges. In December, he was indicted with eight counts, including money laundering and securities fraud, and in February 12 more counts were added, including running an unlicensed money transmitting business. “We took our time and did a lot of due diligence on the business. It didn’t turn out the way we thought,” Taylor added . Just days after FTX ( FTT-USD ) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, 2022, Singapore's state investment funds prepared to write off the full value of its $275M FTX stake .