Star Atlas Heavily Affected By ‘FTX Catastrophe’, CEO Remains Committed

In a breaking announcement on Friday afternoon, Star Atlas co-founder Michael Wagner released an official statement regarding the bankruptcy of centralized exchange FTX and the collapse of the FTT token.

“As of today, we maintain a strong balance sheet, with significant optionality in front of us, though a potion of our most immediately liquid cash assets were impacted. While previously we had multiple years of runway given current operations ahead of us, that has presently been reduced by approximately one half.” — CEO Michael Wagner

Official Statement from ATMTA CEO Michael Wagner

Immediately following the official announcement, ATMTA, the company behind Star Atlas, called a community Town Hall meeting.

Speaking to an audience of over 500 hundred members, CEO Michael Wagner stated that the development team’s resolve was still very strong. Having discussed the situation with the team internally, enthusiasm and passion for the project had not faltered.

This week has been an emotional rollercoaster. We had a fantastic time at Breakpoint establishing partnerships and demonstrating the caliber of talent we have and amazing product. We proved to the world what is possible and what we’re capable of.

Unfortunately, the chain of events surrounding FTX’s demise over the last week has detracted significantly from the positive high that was Solana Breakpoint. Star Atlas has lost a significant portion of its liquidity in the FTX freeze.

Wagner remained positive and said that the team was committed and focused on continuing to build with their remaining operating budget

Some of those options include looking at internal restructuring and looking for avenues to raise additional capital, despite the bleak macro-economic environment. Wagner alluded to potential engagements with capital funding partners as early as this weekend.

Some of these interested partners include highly committed individuals, likely within the Star Atlas community itself.

Despite all this Wagner concluded his opening remarks by stating that the company still remains in a position of strength relative to their balance sheet with a strong confidence in the team and community.

Following his remarks, Wagner took a few questions from the audience.

Note: Some questions and answers have been edited from their original format for clarity.

Q: — What was the previous runway, in terms of years ,for current operating responses. What is it took down to now?

A: It was 20–24 months, now down to 9 months to a year based on existing expenses. Ideally we would like our runway to get us to 2024 and optimistic on the recovery of the macro-environment.

Q: — What is the strategy now towards recovery?

A: We are considering refocusing on developing SAGE quicker but it will be challenging. It would require reprioritization of resources towards SAGE, Mobile division, and the mobile companion app to generate new revenue opportunities. [Our goal] is to have minimal impact to the existing roadmap.

Q: — Can you talk about numbers? How much was lost? What are plans to raise capital moving forward? Regarding the agreement with Spearsoft game development studio, was anything paid to them?

A: ATLAS reserves that we have that have not been liquidated, but is currently an unrealized loss. We do not have a plan to sell (additional) tokens at this time, but that option does exist. We could structure deals with individual parties to high conviction buyers. The goal to have something in 4–6 weeks but could take 3–6 months.

Half of our liquid cash was stuck on FTX.

Q: — Instead of looking for Venture Capital, do you think there is an option to collaborate with the community to do something?

A: VC route is most feasible but discussing internally if equity within the community is a viable. Its a sensitive topic, we’d love to identify a path but unknown if that path is available.