Quick answer: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan invested roughly $95 million in the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in 2021 and wrote the entire investment down to zero after FTX’s November 2022 collapse – a real, publicly disclosed example that even large, professionally managed pension funds can suffer total losses on speculative alternative investments.

What actually happened

OTPP, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, participated in FTX funding rounds before the exchange’s collapse amid fraud allegations against its founder. OTPP publicly disclosed writing the investment to zero – a real, material loss to a professionally managed fund with extensive due diligence resources.

The actual lesson for individual retirement savers

If a large institutional investor with dedicated due diligence teams can lose an entire investment in a speculative asset, individual investors should apply extra scrutiny to any single concentrated position – whether cryptocurrency, individual stocks, or alternative assets like precious metals – rather than assuming size or sophistication guarantees safety.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan recover any of its FTX investment?
OTPP wrote the investment down to zero following FTX’s collapse; recovery, if any, would depend on the outcome of FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings, which is a separate, ongoing legal process.

Does this mean pension funds shouldn’t invest in alternative assets?
Not necessarily – it illustrates that concentration risk and due diligence gaps can affect even sophisticated investors, which is a reason for individual investors to diversify and size any single alternative position carefully.

Source: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan – Public Statements

Written by Samuel, Certified Public Accountant. Published August 2026.