A $1 Billion Funding Program to Save Crypto Quietly Fizzled Out

In the chaotic aftermath of crypto exchange FTX’s unraveling last November, the industry was in disarray. Prices were tumbling, investors were frantically trying to limit their exposure to the sunken platform, and startup funding was evaporating.

Then Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, billionaire founder of Binance and lone surviving titan of crypto after Sam Bankman-Fried’s swift fall, stepped in.

Zhao’s plan: to pull together some of the industry’s biggest names and raise at least $1 billion to finance promising startups which, due to forces outside their own control, were strapped for cash. Time was of the essence. “The industry needs ...