- Changpeng Zhao’s Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI) project has reportedly failed without raising anticipated funds.
- Zhao proposed the project after the FTX fall with the intention of financing promising startups.
- Though Zhao anticipated a minimum of $1 billion to be invested by industry giants, no more than $30 million was raised.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, the Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI), a proposal initiated by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao following the FTX debacle, has not been successful. Failing to achieve the anticipated fund for industry stabilization, Zhao has reportedly decided to step back from the project.
When the whole crypto industry stood frozen in the long crypto winter that followed the abrupt downfall of the then-prominent crypto exchange FTX, Zhao came forward with the IRI proposal, intending to raise at least $1 billion from industry giants to fund promising startups. In November 2022, Zhao shared a Twitter thread announcing Binance’s IRI project to help strong projects in liquidity crisis.
However, after nearly a year, the project seems to be falling, with less than $30 million in funds raised. Amidst the protracted crypto winter and the ongoing regulatory struggles, even the crypto giants face difficulty sustaining their development, failing to invest in the IRI project. Though many billionaire companies joined the venture with the commitment of millions in funds, none of them neared Zhao’s expectations.
Per the words of a Binance spokesperson, the platform has moved $985 million of the funds it had committed to the IRI project back to its corporate treasury, planning to invest it. The spokesperson remained muted about the 14 financed projects and the total amount of money the project deployed. Dana Hou, Head of Business Strategy at Binance, in the Bloomberg report further commented, “We didn’t identify as many projects who would meet our criteria, and this is the same for the other investors”.
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