Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
FTX found itself in hot water when word got out that Alameda Research, a trading firm also owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, had its finances heavily reliant on FTT, the token owned and distributed by FTX. It led to widespread selling of FTT, which saw its value plummet. One of the many people who dumped their FTT was Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (also known as CZ), who sold $500 million worth of the token. In yet another shocking twist, it’s now been announced that Binance will be acquiring FTX’s non-US operations.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao dumped his FTT holdings earlier this week following a concerning report about FTX and Alameda Research. While Bankman-Fried tried to reassure that FTX and its assets were fine, that proved not to be the case. CZ's tweet earlier today confirmed that his company would acquire FTX’s non-US operations.
“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 http://FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days.” Bankman-Fried confirmed the acquisition in a tweet of his own.
It’s unclear how much Binance is acquiring FTX for, but perhaps those details will come later. That said, this is a massive deal for Binance, which was already the largest crypto exchange. FTX had acquired smaller exchanges over the past year, but it will now all go towards expanding Binance’s grand empire.
FTT saw a slight recovery on the news of the Binance acquisition, but it’s still a far cry from where it was valued just days ago. We’ll be watching the situation with Binance and FTX closely moving forward, and you can expect to read all of the necessary updates right here on Shacknews.