“Leaked” Financials Show Big 2021 for FTX

It is common knowledge that crypto exchange FTX did ridiculously well during the 2021 bull market. Just how well, however, was anybody’s guess.Well, now we have the numbers to confirm our suspicions.

Leaked financials paint a very rosy picture for FTX. They come out as winners anyway you slice it.

• Revenue increased from $89 million in 2020 to $1.02 billion in 2021, a 1025% gain

• Operating income increased from $12 million in 2020 to $272 million in 2021, an 1842% gain

• Net income increased from $17 million in 2020 to $388 million in 2021, a 2182% gain

Although this isn’t surprising news in the slightest, there are a few potentially valuable takeaways:

• Two-thirds of FTX’s revenue came from futures trading fees. This really shows just how popular futures trading is and how much it plays a role at FTX. Expect FTX to try to transition their revenue more towards traditional trading, while their competitors such as Coinbase attempt to take futures market share from FTX.

• FTX had $2.5 billion in cash at the end of last year. This explains how they’ve been able to act as a lender of last resort for embattled crypto lenders. Look for them to continue picking up companies for pennies on the dollar for as long as this bear market continues.

• Only 5% of FTX’s revenue came from the U.S. Improving this is a major focus for FTX, with FTX planning to commit $900 million to advertising and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried going so far as to say that bringing crypto derivatives to the US is “what I’m paying the most attention to right now.” If FTX does gain a greater foothold in the U.S., that would likely have adverse effects on the current dominant U.S. exchange, Coinbase.

• It’s fishy for news like this to be “leaked.” It’s likely that FTX has something up its sleeve and wanted to project strength before making some sort of move. Your guess is as good as ours for what this move is, but we’ll be tuned in to find out.