A new report suggests that the Binance-led Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI), a joint investment project aimed at supporting the cryptocurrency industry after the collapse of FTX, may not have the desired effect.
According to Bloomberg, after announcing the IRI in November 2022, Binance spent $15 million of its BUSD (BUSD) stablecoin commitments totaling $1 billion. report October 10th.
Binance then transferred the remaining $985 million in committed BUSD back to its corporate coffers, with plans to use it for investments. In March, Binance converted these funds from BUSD to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), citing growing regulatory concerns over stablecoins.
In addition to Binance, IRI also set As of February 2023, 18 organizations will have donated an additional $100 million, including Animoca Brands, Aptos Labs, Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, and others.
Binance claimed that IRI funded 14 projects three months after its launch, but did not disclose the names of the companies that received funding. The only publicly announced payout from Binance’s $1 billion IRI commitment is the exchange’s acquisition of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Gopax, announced in early February.
IRI has invested just under $30 million since its founding last year, according to wallet data collected by Bloomberg. Of the nine named participants, only DWF Labs and Binance-backed Aptos have spent at least some of the pledged funds.
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It’s unclear whether IRI is still working to support cryptocurrency projects, as its Google Docs application form indicates yes Still active.
Binance did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
IRI’s hefty capital commitment, compared to its actual contribution, comes at a time when the cryptocurrency industry is scrambling for funding.
Blockchain analytics firm Messari reported on October 5 that the quarterly amount of cryptocurrency-related venture capital investment fell by 70% from the third quarter of 2022. According to the report, cryptocurrency venture capital investment in the third quarter of 2023 was approximately $2 billion, down from a record high of $17 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
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