The cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has agreed to fully acquire the Sam Bankman-Fried-owned cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, following liquidity issues.
Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao announced on Tuesday that the top cryptocurrency exchange has signed a non-binding letter of intent with the Bahamian cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao said the goal is to “help cover the liquidity crunch.” He added that the exchange will conduct full due diligence “in the coming days.”
This afternoon, FTX asked for our help. There is a significant liquidity crunch. To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire https://t.co/BGtFlCmLXB and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 8, 2022
Also announcing the deal, Bankman-Fried said the deal is “an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com.” The billionaire founder's announcement comes after FTX’s problems with liquidity forced it to pause customer withdrawals sparking industry-wide liquidity concerns.
1) Hey all: I have a few announcements to make.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 8, 2022
Things have come full circle, and https://t.co/DWPOotRHcX’s first, and last, investors are the same: we have come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for https://t.co/DWPOotRHcX (pending DD etc.).
Bankman-Fried noted that the need to clear out all of FTX’s “liquidity crunches” and cover all assets 1:1 informed the decision to seek Binance’s help. He added that while this may take a bit of time to settle, “the important thing is that customers are protected.” However, the FTX Founder and CEO pointed out that the deal does not cover FTX.US, its American subsidiary. Binance.US, Binance’s subsidiary in the United States, is also not covered in the deal, he noted.
“FTX.us’s withdrawals are and have been live, is fully backed 1:1, and operating normally,” Bankman-Fried said.
Meanwhile, the deal is a reversal of roles for Bankman-Fried whose FTX has been rescuing embattled firms in the crypto industry following the heat of the recent market turmoil.
The Liquidity Problem
The FTX-Binance deal comes a few days after crypto users expressed worries over the liquidity troubles of FTX following problems with withdrawals on the platform. Moreover, the concern was ignited by Zhao’s announcement on Sunday that Binance will be withdrawing the remainder of its $530 million FTX Tokens (FTT) "due to recent revelations that have come to light."
As part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year, Binance received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT). Due to recent revelations that have came to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books. 1/4
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022
In another Twitter post last Sunday, Zhao attributed Binance's decision to liquidate its FTT holding as a "post-exit risk management" in order to prevent a repeat of the troubles created by the Terra-LUNA collapse.
Liquidating our FTT is just post-exit risk management, learning from LUNA. We gave support before, but we won't pretend to make love after divorce. We are not against anyone. But we won't support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs. Onwards.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022
False Rumours?
In what appears to be a response to Zhao's tweets, on Monday, Bankman-Fried took a swipe at a "competitor" that is "trying to go after us with false rumors." Bankman-Fried defended his crypto exchange, noting that it had "enough to cover all client holdings."
"We don't invest client assets (even in treasures). We have been processing all withdrawals, and will continue to be [sic]," he tweeted.
2) FTX has enough to cover all client holdings.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 7, 2022
We don't invest client assets (even in treasuries).
We have been processing all withdrawals, and will continue to be.
Some details on withdrawal speed: https://t.co/tSjhJW3JlI
(banks and nodes can be slow)
Update on Withdrawals
On the withdrawal issue, FTX announced on Tuesday that "queue is decreasing and getting back to more reasonable levels; nodes and banks catching up."
On Monday, FTX announced that all of its matching engines were running smoothly although nodes throughput for Bitcoin is limited. The exchange added that it was processing its backlog of stablecoin "creations/redemptions" although this "might be slower” as banks were closed for the weekend.
Market Impact
Meanwhile, the impact of the recent development on FTX remains palpable as the price of the FTT token has collapsed by -67.84% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Other cryptocurrencies too are affected with Bitcoin down by -9.81%, Ether by -14.70%, SOL by -23.68%, LUNC by -29.95%, BNB by -11.58% and DOGE by -28.96, all in the last 24 hours.
Furthermore, Finance Magnates' check shows that the price of the token as of Tuesday evening was fluctuating between four and five dollars-plus. FTX's Bitcoin balance plunged as a result of the news.
