A charity backed by the American convicted cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried has announced it is winding down.
Effective Ventures Foundation UK, which had an income of more than £140m in 2022, supports “organisations in the effective altruism and long termism communities”, according to its website.
The charity’s latest accounts to the year ending 30 June 2023, which show it had funds totalling almost £47m at the end of the year, said it was expected that EVF would “eventually wind down (in 2025 or beyond)”.
Effective Ventures Foundation is subject to a Charity Commission statutory inquiry, which was announced last January.
The inquiry was opened after the bankruptcy of US cryptocurrency exchange FTX because the exchange’s philanthropic foundation was a “significant funder” to the charity.
Bankman-Fried, who founded FTX in 2019, was convicted of fraud and last week sentenced in a New York court to 25 years in prison.
The regulator said last year: “The inquiry has been opened to establish facts and help ensure the trustees protect the charity’s assets and are running the charity in line with their duties and responsibilities.”
It said its inquiry would investigate the extent of any risks to the charity’s assets and the governance and administration of the charity by trustees.
A spokesperson for the commission said today its inquiry into Effective Ventures remained ongoing.
“We don’t routinely comment or provide updates on ongoing inquiries but do produce an inquiry report outlining our full findings on conclusion,” the spokesperson said.
Last November, the charity’s board decided to “spin out” all the projects it sponsored into new independent entities, according to the latest accounts.
“The board of [EVF] does not intend to fiscally sponsor new charitable projects, once the existing projects have spun out,” said the charity.
“It is therefore expected that [EVF] will eventually wind down (in 2025 or beyond).”