Crypto tycoon skips SALT conference after taking 30% stake in SkyBridge

by Arthur · September 14, 2022

Last week, Sam Bankman-Fried dropped $45 million to buy a 30% stake in Skybridge Capital, the hedge fund run by Anthony Scaramucci. This week, Bankman-Fried failed to make an appearance at the annual SALT conference in New York – SkyBridge’s biggest event of the year.

Last year, the 30-year-old billionaire was a fixture at SALT – pushing the meat while promoting his cryptocurrency exchange FTX to countless investors and reporters. But this week, Bankman-Fried was unable to make the trip from her residence in the Bahamas, according to a source.

Instead, Bankman-Fried made a virtual appearance – despite his crypto firm FTX being a key sponsor of this week’s conference. Earlier this year, FTX and SkyBridge launched a crypto-only event, FTX Bahamas.

“It’s strange — if Bankman-Fried were at SALT the deal would be the news of the conference,” said one conference attendee. “You would think he would show up to increase his investment and show support.”

Meanwhile, insiders noted that SALT’s proceedings this week at the Javits Center in New York were noticeably less focused on crypto than last year, although web3 and NFTs remained a topic of panel discussions. In fact, one person involved in persuading people to sign up told The Post, “I had to reassure potential participants that it wouldn’t be as crypto-heavy this year as it was last year.”

Scaramucci — who famously did a 10-day stint as former President Trump’s communications chief — remains bullish on cryptocurrency despite his crypto-focused funds plummeting this year as digital assets, according to reports.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s venture arm just spent millions acquiring a stake in SkyBridge Capital – but he didn’t attend SkyBridge’s flagship SALT conference.

Scaramucci said in a statement to The Post that he shouldn’t “read too much into” Bankman-Fried’s absence — and that FTX was well represented with plenty of personnel there. “I think the investment he just made is statement enough,” Scaramucci added.

FTX declined to comment.

Legion Strategies, one of SkyBridge’s heavily crypto-focused funds, is down about 30% this year. In July, Skybridge had to suspend withdrawals from its $230 million Legion Strategies fund, according to a Bloomberg report. More than 20% of the fund is in cryptocurrency-related investments. According to a July report in DealBook, the $2 billion SkyBridge flagship fund faces nearly $900 million in withdrawals.

While this week’s event caught big hits — including Todd Boehly, the Californian billionaire who just bought FS Chelsea — it lacked many of the household hedge fund names the conference is usually known for.

Last year’s speaker list included financial titans such as Point72’s Steven Cohen, Third Point’s Dan Loeb, Avenue’s Marc Lasry and ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood.

Of course, as market volatility continues, many investors may be much more focused on keeping their funds flowing than voicing NFTs at conferences.

scaramucci — Scaramucci’s SkyBridge launched a crypto-focused conference with FTX in the Bahamas earlier this year.

One financier who opted to skip this year said: “For most investors, it’s not a good time to brag about your results.”

Bankman-Fried, 30, is worth an estimated $12.4 billion according to Forbes and has become something of a crypto savior during the massive decline in digital coins. He gave BlockFi, a crypto bank, $250 million in credit and committed $500 million to bail out crypto brokerage firm Voyager Digital over the summer as the crypto market crashed.

“It’s strange that Bankman-Fried wasn’t there … but it’s only a $45 million deal,” the conference goer added.