Flush with $900 million of fresh capital, Hong Kong-based crypto derivatives exchange FTX has an eye on expanding business in its CEOâs home country.
âWhen you look at FTX US, thereâs an enormous amount of potential growth in the states,â Sam Bankman-Fried said Thursday on CoinDesk TVâs âFirst Moverâ program.
âThere isnât nearly as much business going on right now as you would expect given the size of the economy,â the 29-year-old California-born entrepreneur went on. âA lot of that is regulatory. Itâs something that weâre working on there.â
FTX has clearly been laying the groundwork to become a household name in the U.S. through high-profile, sports-related marketing deals with basketball, baseball and (American) football luminaries.
As it stands, FTXâs global customer base is âeverywhereâ¦.all over the place,â Bankman-Fried said. âThere isnât any dominant jurisdiction,â and no single jurisdiction makes up more than 10% of the companyâs revenues, he said.
While acknowledging that Chinaâs recent crypto crackdown has weighed significantly on the price of bitcoin and the asset class broadly, Bankman-Fried downplayed the direct impact on FTXâs business.
âWhile it is a relevant jurisdiction, itâs not an overwhelming one,â he said of China. âWhile I think have a lot of Chinese users for a non-Chinese exchange, we donât nearly as many as Chinese-native ones do.â
Asked how FTX would deploy the proceeds of the record-setting Series B round announced this week, the CEO said that acquisitions would likely be the main investment. In particular, FTX is interested in buying firms that would expand its set of licenses, user base and familiarity with assets such as fiat currency and stocks âthat we donât have much expertise with.â