The Disrupt

FTX Agrees to Sell Itself to Rival Binance Amid Liquidity Scare

“Binance agreed to buy rival cryptocurrency exchange FTX, a stunning outcome that followed days of speculation – spurred by a CoinDesk article on Nov. 2 – that FTX and corporate sibling Alameda Research faced a liquidity crisis.

We have come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com (pending DD etc.)

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also took to Twitter to confirm the deal, saying the two exchanges signed a non-binding letter of intent. Bankman-Fried and Zhao both said that a full due diligence process would be underway in the next couple of days.

Investors had withdrawn significant money from FTX, withdrawing bitcoin (BTC) en masse over the last 24 hours, cutting the balance there from about 20,000 bitcoins to just one on Tuesday morning, according to data from Coinglass.

On the news, FTX’s FTT token rallied 20% to $17.50 from about $14.50. Binance’s BNB token jumped 8% from $326 to $355. The price of bitcoin also pared its losses after the takeover was announced.”

See Also: FTX’s Bitcoin Balance Plunges to Just One
See Also: FTX Token Plummets on Withdrawal Concerns, as Contagion Hits Broader Crypto Markets
See Also: BitDAO Community Asks Alameda for Proof of Funds After BIT’s Sudden 20% Drop
See Also: Abracadabra’s MIM Stablecoin Briefly Lost Dollar Peg as FTX’s FTT Token Tanked

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1) Hey all: I have a few announcements to make.

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.).

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 8, 2022

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