Binance Acquires FTX, Crypto Trading Company Owned by Sam Bankman-Fried

JAKARTA – The exchange of two leading crypto companies Binance and FTX ended in a surprise. Binance, the world's largest company, announced the acquisition of the FTX exchange amid a liquidity crisis and rumors of the bankruptcy of the crypto exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried.

Meanwhile, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao explained that his party had signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LoI) for the acquisition of FTX. The purchase was intended to “help cover the liquidity crisis" that FTX is experiencing.

“There are a lot of things to cover and it will take time. This is a very dynamic situation, and we are assessing the situation in real-time. Binance has the discretion to withdraw from the deal at any time. We expect FTT to be very volatile in the coming days as it develops", said Binance boss Changpeng Zhao.

On the other hand, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said in a Twitter post that he asked Binance to step in to help clean up his withdrawal deposits, reinforcing rumors that the exchange has been in bankruptcy for some time.

“Our team is working to clear the withdrawal deposits as they are. This will clean up the liquidity crisis; all assets will be covered 1:1. This is one of the main reasons we asked Binance to enter. It may take some time to complete etc. - we apologize for that", said Bankman-Fried.

The figure who is usually referred to as SBF also added that Binance.us and FTX.us will continue to work independently. He thanked CZ and Binance for their help.

“Many thanks to CZ, Binance, and all of our supporters. It is a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry. CZ has done, and will continue to do, a tremendous job in building a global crypto ecosystem, and creating a freer world economy", SBF said in a Twitter post.

“I know that there are rumors in the media about conflicts between our two exchanges, however, Binance has shown time and time again that they are committed to a more decentralized global economy while working to improve industry relations with regulators. We are in the best of hands", he added.

According to a CoinSpeaker report, Binance's move to acquire FTX came after rumors began circulating that the exchange was holding large amounts of FTT's native token and was effectively bankrupt. In response, CZ tweeted that Binance would sell its FTT shares, sparking panic among token holders and exchange users.

Before this incident, SBF-founded crypto trading services company Alameda Research had also sold their stablecoin holdings worth IDR 4.5 trillion.

A data report from Coinecko describes the decline in the price of the FTT token. At the time of writing, FTT is trading at IDR 71,778. FTT prices have fallen more than 70 percent in the last 24 hours. The decline in the FTT price came after the Binance boss announced he would sell all of his holdings of Binance's FTT token.

Following the news, FTT plunged more than 40%. Additionally, CZ's tweet caused a bank run on FTX. Exchanges have seen hundreds of millions of dollars withdrawn, with some reporting that they are experiencing delays. FTX boss Bankman-Fried responded to this by saying "competitors are trying to chase us with false rumors. FTX is doing well. Assets are fine."