Cryptocurrency Exchange FTX Grew Revenue by 1000% in 2021

Share IT

Key Takeaways:

  • FTX increased its revenue by over 1,000% during 2021, from $89 million to $1020 million.
  • FTX had an operating income of $272 million in 2021, a significant increase from $14 million in 2020. 
  • FTXโ€™s acquisition of startups helped drive its growth.

Leading cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX increased its revenue by over 1,000% during 2021, from $89 million to $1020 million, according to documents accessed by CNBC.

The report comes amidst the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) slapping FTX with a cease-and-desist order over โ€œfalse and misleading statementsโ€ that suggest its assets are FDIC-insured.

Reportedly, FTX had an operating income of $272 million in 2021, a significant increase from $14 million in 2020. 

According to documents, FTX amassed $388 million in net income, a 2182.35% increase from last yearโ€™s $17 million. Sam Bankman Friedโ€™s FTX also had $2.5 billion in cash at the end of 2021 and 27% profit margins. 

The profit margins touched 50% if advertising and similar expenses were stripped out. Despite market volatility and the crypto bear market knocking down big crypto firms, FTX has held ground in 2022. 

Earlier in January, FTX raised $400 million from investors, including SoftBank, at a valuation of $32 billion, making the platform one of the most valuable startups in the fast-growing digital currency sector.

As per media reports, the exchange brought in around $270 million in revenue in 2022 first quarter and was on track to do around $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022.

Bankman-Fried also founded the trading firm Alameda Research, which accounts for about 6% of FTXโ€™s exchange volumes, according to the documents.

Earlier this year, Co-founder Sam Bankman Fried said in an interview that FTX is a profitable company. โ€œYou can look at the amount weโ€™ve raised over the last year or two — itโ€™s a few billion dollars. That gives maybe a sense of where we are in terms of cash that was explicitly viewed from a potential acquisition angle. โ€œ, he had said.

FTXโ€™s recent acquisitions of startups further upped its profit margins. Last year, FTXโ€™s American arm bought LedgerX, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC)-regulated exchange and clearinghouse, to gain a foothold in the growing US crypto derivatives market.

In April this year, FTX US signed an agreement to invest strategically in the IEXโ€™s operator IEX Group to establish a market for buying, selling, and trading digital asset securities.

So far in 2022, FTX has acquired the Canadian trading platform-Bitvo, and Embed Financial Technologies, an equity clearing platform, to boost its growth in the market.

In July, FTX almost signed a deal with an option to buy embattled crypto lender BlockFi for up to $240 million. FTX is also currently discussing the purchase of the Korean Crypto exchange Bithumb.

FTX is becoming a formidable force in the crypto market with its global footprint. The crypto exchange crashed into the mainstream with naming rights to the Miami Heatโ€™s home court, Super Bowl ads, and its logo on Major League Baseball umpire uniforms.

Share IT
Saniya Raahath
Saniya Raahath

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Type below and hit enter!