Canadian teachers suffer huge losses due to FTX collapse

On November 10, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, the 3rd Canada's largest pension fund, revealed its exposure to the troubled crypto exchange FTX. The organization reported potential losses but argued they will have a “limited impact” on the plan. 

The total investment made by Ontario teachers together with global investors in FTX International and FTX.US was $95 million. They invested $75 million in October 2021 and $20 million in January 2022. According to OTPP representatives, this amount does not exceed 0.05% of the fund's total assets.

In 2019, Ontario teachers set up the Teachers' Venture Growth (TVG) platform. It was used to invest in technology startups and emerging venture companies. According to the developers' idea, the platform was supposed to provide teachers with returns commensurate with the risk undertaken and opportunities for their own investment projects.

OTPP emphasizes that they have achieved all the goals set at the time of TVG's establishment. 

“Naturally, not all of the investments in this early-stage asset class perform to expectations”, said the fund.

Last week was marked with another large-scale bankruptcy in the crypto industry. The previously promising centralized exchange FTX has earned the spotlight this time. One of the global leaders in terms of trading volume became a social bust for partners and aroused heightened interest among the SEC, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in just a couple of days.