LayerZero Labs bought back its stake from FTX Ventures and Alameda

Interoperability protocol LayerZero Labs announced on Nov.10 an agreement to buy out 100% of FTX Ventures’ and Alameda Research’s equity position, including token warrants and all agreements between the parties. 

In March, the protocol raised $135 million in a funding round co-led by FTX Ventures, bringing the startup’s valuation to $1 billion. Other investors in the round included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Coinbase Ventures and PayPal Ventures.

In a statement released to investors and published on Twitter, Bryan Pellegrino, LayerZero’s CEO, said:

“We’ve worked around the clock for the past 72 hours to structure an agreement and have bought FTX/FTX Ventures/Alameda out of 100% of their equity position, token warrants, and any agreement between us.”

The agreement also included the purchase of the STG tokens Alameda had acquired from its community auction. According to LayerZero, a proposal will be submitted to transfer the tokens to the Stargate Foundation and “let the community decide what to do with them.” 

FTX Ventures participated in the STG launch and bought all the tokens, as Sam Trabuco, CEO at Alameda, explained in a Twitter thread in March. The tokens were later released as a spot-based product.

There’s been some chatter about the recent @StargateFinance auction, and I wanted to clarify a few things about Alameda’s involvement.

— Sam Trabucco (@AlamedaTrabucco) March 22, 2022

LayerZero claimed to possess $107 million in cash, along with the equivalent of $27 million in on-chain funds, with around 90% in stablecoins, coming for a total of $134 million. In addition, the startup had $11.5 million on FTX that was being used for operational purposes but said it now considers it a balance of zero. 

“This puts us in an incredibly strong position going into the next few years. We have no less than 7 years of runway even in our aggressive projections, are equity rich, and have one of the most amazing teams in all crypto,” noted Pellegrino.

Sam Bankman-Fried revealed the FTX crisis on Nov. 8 by announcing Binance’s intention to acquire the crypto exchange amid a “liquidity crunch.” In a Twitter thread published on Nov. 10, he also confirmed that Alameda was “winding down trading” but assured users that the United States-based FTX US “was not financially impacted” by recent events. To learn more, read Cointelegraph’s wrap-up of the whole saga between the exchanges.