3 ms·

Canadian Pension Funds Are Losing Big at the Crypto Casino

23 points by davidgerard 4y ago

melony 4y ago
> That same month, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) announced its investment in FTX Trading Ltd, supplying at least $50 million into a meme-inspired fundraising round — raising $420.69 million from 69 investors. FTX hasn’t crashed like Celsius Network just yet, but the investment is putting teacher pensions in danger. FTX is an exchange and market maker. The risk profile is different from a generic crypto trading hedge fund.
- cardiffspaceman 4y ago
  Can an investing institution like OTPP end up negative? Or are we just talking about more ways to go to zero?
  - melony 4y ago
    OTPP is famous in the industry for their good management, I certainly hope they are not doing any unprotected shorts. Honestly, their attempts to ride the WallStreetBets GME wave were a lot more dangerous than their FTX play.
    - davidgerard 4y ago
      The more general problem is that pension funds can't achieve the returns they need from sane investments, so they're looking at less sane investments. Lottery tickets from VCs and so on.
ttul 4y ago
The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan fund is worth $241.6B (as of December). They can afford to lose their entire bet on FTX. It’s about half a percent of their holdings. OTPP regularly invests in venture capital funds and makes direct venture capital investments, as do many pension funds and university endowments. These are prudently managed funds that have decades-long track records of sound financial management.
- dc-programmer 4y ago
  “ That same month, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) announced its investment in FTX Trading Ltd, supplying at least $50 million into a meme-inspired fundraising round — raising $420.69 million from 69 investors. FTX hasn’t crashed like Celsius Network just yet, but the investment is putting teacher pensions in danger.” They must’ve put the new guy on this one
  - aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
    Yeah, comparing FTX and Celsius is like comparing politicians to card game street performers.
fghccdjbvvh 4y ago

23 points by davidgerard 4y ago

> That same month, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) announced its investment in FTX Trading Ltd, supplying at least $50 million into a meme-inspired fundraising round — raising $420.69 million from 69 investors. FTX hasn’t crashed like Celsius Network just yet, but the investment is putting teacher pensions in danger. FTX is an exchange and market maker. The risk profile is different from a generic crypto trading hedge fund.

cardiffspaceman 4y ago
Can an investing institution like OTPP end up negative? Or are we just talking about more ways to go to zero?
- melony 4y ago
  OTPP is famous in the industry for their good management, I certainly hope they are not doing any unprotected shorts. Honestly, their attempts to ride the WallStreetBets GME wave were a lot more dangerous than their FTX play.
  - davidgerard 4y ago
    The more general problem is that pension funds can't achieve the returns they need from sane investments, so they're looking at less sane investments. Lottery tickets from VCs and so on.

ttul 4y ago

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan fund is worth $241.6B (as of December). They can afford to lose their entire bet on FTX. It’s about half a percent of their holdings. OTPP regularly invests in venture capital funds and makes direct venture capital investments, as do many pension funds and university endowments. These are prudently managed funds that have decades-long track records of sound financial management.

dc-programmer 4y ago
“ That same month, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) announced its investment in FTX Trading Ltd, supplying at least $50 million into a meme-inspired fundraising round — raising $420.69 million from 69 investors. FTX hasn’t crashed like Celsius Network just yet, but the investment is putting teacher pensions in danger.” They must’ve put the new guy on this one
- aaaaaaaaata 4y ago
  Yeah, comparing FTX and Celsius is like comparing politicians to card game street performers.

fghccdjbvvh 4y ago