We are right now witnessing a moment between top crypto exchanges Binance and FTX, which can be very pivotal in the movement of the current crypto market. Well, now Binance CEO CZ has rejected Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s offer to buy the FTT tokens that Binance is going to sell for $22 per piece.
When a Crypto Twitter (CT) user asked if CZ plans on taking Alameda up on their offer to close the position over-the-counter to avoid further market impact, CZ got confused about whether Alameda is offering to buy $580M BNB tokens.
On Sunday, Binance announced it is going to liquidate the rest of the FTT tokens it received from the firm last year as part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity and will try to sell the tokens in a way to minimize market impact.
CZ then clarified that they are now sticking to the open market, so there are no plans to accept Alameda’s offer.
“I didn’t say that. It was a question, not a commitment. I think we will stay in the free market. We still hold LUNA (now LUNC) today,” CZ replied.
The Binance CEO even posted further clarifications about the situation and denied there is any kind of fight against anyone.
CZ stated that he posted about the liquidation of FTT tokens in a hurry to remain transparent with the community because a lot of confusion was going on about who transferred 30 million FTT tokens to a Binance exchange wallet.
But little did CZ know that it was going to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
CZ acknowledged that there were also conspiracy theories that he orchestrated this whole thing and noted no one can orchestrate such a situation.
Denying allegations of any sort of fit, CZ tweeted, “Sorry to disappoint, but I spend my energy building, not fighting. Today I spent my day on our business & our community. I suggest others do the same. Back to building.”
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju tweeted that FTX currently has $104.9 million worth of stablecoins in its on-chain reserves. He reported a figure of just $51 million, a 93% decline over a two-week period and a yearly low.
Another CT user quoted these figures asking how Alameda is going to buy the remaining FTT tokens from Binance when they have no money at all. CZ replied to that user with a shrugging emoji.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, did respond to CZs controversial Twitter thread by tweeting, “Make love (and blockchain), not war.”
Later he posted another thread as FUD was spreading on FTX and Alameda Research facing insolvency, causing panic among users who rushed to withdraw their assets from the exchange.
“A competitor is trying to go after us with false rumors. FTX is fine. Assets are fine,” SBF came forward.
SBF noted that FTX has enough to cover all client holdings, and they don’t invest client assets even in treasuries. FTX has been processing all withdrawals and will continue to be.
“We have a long history of safeguarding client assets, and that remains true today,” SBF assured the users.
SBF then mentioned Binance CEO CZ stating he would love it if they could work together for the ecosystem.
As FTX was bleeding depositors, Binance managed to boost exchange inflows by about $411 million within the same time frame.
FTT token, FTX’s native token, is taking hit after hit following Binance’s announcement and is trading at a price of $15.64 at the time of writing.
In September, Alameda was asked to repay Voyager Digital the $200 Million loan in crypto, and in exchange for the repayment, Alameda was supposed to get $160 million back in its pledged collateral. This did shake their balance sheet and the after-effects are shown now.
The coming few days will be very crucial for FTX and Alameda Research, as the ongoing crypto winter is not helping their case at all. Let’s see if they will bounce back or if we will witness a Terra-style collapse again.
