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: Binance sets up crypto industry recovery fund with $1 billion initial commitment

Binance detailed more of its commitment to “spearhead” the crypto industry’s recovery late on Thursday following the fallout from the collapse of FTX. Read More...

Binance has set up a fund to rebuild the crypto industry following the fallout from its peer FTX’s collapse earlier this month, which will entail a $1 billion commitment from the crypto exchange giant.

In a blog post published late Thursday, Binance said the fund – named the Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI) – will be open and accessible on a public address and will last approximately 6 months.

“As a leading player in crypto, we understand that we have a responsibility to lead the charge when it comes to protecting consumers and rebuilding the industry,” Binance said.

It comes after Binance founder Changpeng Zhao told Bloomberg on Thursday that he regretted not tweeting about FTX sooner.

The company stressed the IRI is not an investment fund and anyone wanting to invest through the IRI application process must set aside committed capital within public addresses “to ensure transparency.”

The fund is structured loosely as it expects “individual situations to require tailored solutions”; it can be funded through tokens, fiat, equity, convertible instruments, debt, credit lines, etc.

Binance said it’s open to “exploring other deal structures”, targeting traditional financial institutions that may not be able to send money to a public address.

Around 150 applications have already been received from companies seeking support. All co-investors in the fund will be able to review applications on a deal-by-deal basis.

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Binance will initially commit $1 billion to “IRI-themed investment opportunities” and may increase that commitment to $2 billion if needed.

In a tweet, Zhao explained that its $1 billion commitment is roughly split between three tokens: Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.27%, Binance USD, and Binance Coin.

A number of companies have poured money into the fund so far, amounting to a total of $50 million.

These include: Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, Aptos Labs, Animoca Brands, GSR, Kronos and Brooker Group.

“We expect more participants to join soon,” Binance added.

The announcement has received mostly positive reaction from industry peers.

“The mandate of this new effort is to support the most promising and highest quality companies and projects built by the best technologists and entrepreneurs that, through no fault of their own, are facing significant, short term, financial difficulties,” the company explained.

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