Bloomberg reported that after the collapse of FTX in November of last year, Binance initiated the Web3 Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI) and publicly disclosed a wallet address containing 1 billion BUSD. However, wallet records to date indicate that the initiative has deployed less than $30 million since its launch, with only one of the nine designated participants fully committing their pledged funds.
As part of this initiative, Binance's sole publicly disclosed investment is the majority stake purchase in the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange GOPAX for $15 million, which was announced in February. Binance has stated that it is awaiting final regulatory approval from local authorities to complete the transaction.
A Binance spokesperson has confirmed that the IRI has funded 14 projects but declined to disclose the names of these projects or the specific amounts of funding provided. The IRI is still accepting applications. An insider revealed that the cryptocurrency market maker GSR assessed 60 applications received through the IRI, but none of them aligned with its strategic goals.
In a previous report from March, about 985 million BUSD was transferred from the Binance Industry Recovery Fund.
In the meantime, the cryptocurrency asset industry continues to face a cash crunch, with companies resorting to layoffs to stay afloat. PitchBook data shows that only $508 million was raised in September, marking the lowest level since November 2020.