Big Crypto Recovery Plans - but no Action

By Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Remember when, within the chaos and despair of the FTX collapse, Binance jumped on its keyboard with ideas for a?$1 billion “recovery initiative” to support struggling crypto firms in the aftermath??

Nice, big idea. Too bad it didn't come to fruition.? The?initial blog post spoke of Binance’s initial commitment of $1 billion that would be increased to $2 billion “in the near future if the need arises". Companies such as Jump Crypto, Aptos, and Polygon were said to have already committed $50 million, and the?public address was published for all to see.?

“An exercise in transparency” Almost a year on, the crypto landscape is much changed, and the “need” for extra recovery funds has certainly “arisen". But the fund has remained silent - the last investment was reportedly made in February 2023.? The landscape for Binance has changed, too.

Far from rising to be the trusted entity to lead all of crypto to another bull run, the world's regulators are narrowing the company's opportunity for expansion, and every day, there seems to be a tweet from CZ about "fake news" related to the company's (possibly) shady inner workings. The "recovery fund" seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Binance quietly withdrew $935 million of their committed funds back into their corporate accounts and “plans to use it for investments.” Many companies that initially committed to the fund have also withdrawn.

In fact, less than $30 million of the so-called “$1 billion fund” have actually been invested in struggling projects, and only 14 of them at that. According to Binance, all other applicants didn't "meet the criteria" to receive funds.

The names of the projects and how the funds were distributed remains a mystery - Transparent as mud. Unfortunately, Binance (and its fund), has not lived up to its “savior-like” ideas and seems to be all talk. The fund, which could have been a lifeline for many, has just become “a minor sideshow to an existential drama.”

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