A so-called effective altruism charity backed by the jailed cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried is to shut down following the collapse of FTX.
Accounts filed by Effective Ventures UK (EV) said it “expected that [Effective Ventures UK] will eventually wind down (in 2025 or beyond)”, after spinning off its main projects into separate initiatives.
It said the charity would not sponsor any new projects.
The charity last week also confirmed it would be selling Wytham Abbey, a 15th century manor it bought to host philanthropic workshops and conferences.
In a post on a forum dedicated to the movement, Rob Gledhill, the chief executive of EV, said: “After input from the Abbey’s major donors, the EV board took a decision to sell the property.
“This project’s runway will run out at the end of April. After this time, the project will cease operations, and EV UK will oversee the sale of the property.”
Effective Ventures UK, which in 2022 had income of more than £140m, was set up to back projects focused on altruistic endeavours aimed at helping the maximum number of people.
Based on the ideas of Oxford philosopher William MacAskill, so-called EAs, or effective altruists, seek to focus their lives and careers on causes such as animal welfare, tackling risks to human extinction, or preventing dangerous artificial intelligence.
The idea has proved popular in Silicon Valley and at elite universities. Bankman-Fried donated tens of millions of dollars to the cause, but the charity was plunged into crisis by the bankruptcy of FTX, his cryptocurrency empire, and his subsequent conviction for fraud.
In December, EV posted on an online forum it would be “decentralising” its main charity projects.
It comes after Bankman-Fried was jailed for 25 years on Thursday and convicted for masterminding a $11bn (£8.7bn) cryptocurrency fraud that saw him syphon billions of dollars from customers to pay for high risk investments and philanthropic donations.
EV has said it strongly condemns the actions of Bankman-Fried.
In November, EV UK and its separate US arm agreed to repay $26.8m to the bankrupt estate of FTX – “an amount equal to 100pc of the funds the entities received from FTX” in 2022.
The UK charity remains under investigation by the Charity Commission, which is examining its governance and potential conflicts of interest.
An internal investigation by the law firm Mintz into the relationship between FTX and Effective Ventures found no evidence the charity knew of Bankman-Fried’s criminal wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the charity declined to comment further.