FTX Paid for Blockfolio Deal Mostly in FTT Token It Invented

FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, used a token it invented to fund its takeover of trading platform Blockfolio, according to financial statements obtained by Bloomberg News.

FTX paid roughly $84 million in 2020 to take a majority stake in Blockfolio, in what was then among the largest crypto acquisitions. About 94% was paid in FTT tokens, a cryptocurrency that FTX created, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.

Details of the Blockfolio acquisition, which haven’t been previously reported, offer a glimpse of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s appetite for whimsical financial engineering, and an early hunger to amass customers through ...