The collapse of the FTX exchange and its subsidiaries in November 2022 also led to the closure of its philanthropic arm, the FTX Future Fund. The philanthropic arm had pledged $1 billion in grants in 2022 for research scholars at prestigious universities. However, the team behind the project give up right after FTX declared bankrupt on November 11, 2022.
Many academics and researchers who were the first to receive the grant are now stuck in limbo over paying out more grants for their programs. According to a report published by Reuters, many Ph.D. students studying on the FTX scholarship were forced to drop out of the course for fear of refund.
A summary of the activities of the FTX Future Fund revealed that the fund was sponsored by former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The grant's focus revolved around research projects for the safe development of artificial intelligence, catastrophic biohazard reduction, institutional enhancement, economic growth, high power relationships, and effective altruism, among many others. others.
1/ We are delighted to announce the FTX Foundation Future Fund. We award grants and investments to ambitious projects to improve the long-term prospects of humanity.
We plan to implement >$100M this year, and potentially much more (initially up to $1B).https://t.co/kIWdm48LZ4
โ Future Fund (@ftxfuturefund) February 28, 2022
According to the report, a total of 20 academics from prestigious universities, including Cornell, Princeton and Brown in the United States, as well as Cambridge in Britain, received grants from FTX's philanthropic arm totaling more than $100,000 each. Additional calculations based on these announcements suggest that university-affiliated research initiatives raised a total of more than $13 million.
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Many of these scholars who received their first grant are now in a sticky situation with the next due date for fee submission already past. As a result, many of the students were forced to leave the program after the first year.
Others who received a full grant found themselves in an ethical battle over whether to use the grant or return the funds, which could be part of stolen customer funds, according to the lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange and its founders.
While FTX asked recipients of payments from debtors in FTX's bankruptcy filing to return their funds in an announcement, it did not specifically mention FTX's futures funds. However, a US-based lawyer suggested that he will rely on the FTX trustee and his willingness to recover small amounts, including philanthropic ones.
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