Binance to Acquire FTX.com

Jacob Oliver, Tom Carreras

Nov. 8, 2022

A series of rumors and public spats has culminated in a takeover of the world's second-largest crypto exchange.

Cover photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg (edited by Mariia Kozyr)

Key Takeaways

Binance is set to acquire FTX.com after rumors of financial troubles sparked a bank run on the world's second-largest exchange.
The deal has been struck after days of public sparring between the two CEOs.
Bankman-Fried's firms, FTX and Alameda Research, were rumored to be facing financial crises since Friday, when an Alameda balance sheet was leaked showing much of its reserves in illiquid assets.

The world’s largest crypto exchange has struck a deal to acquire the world’s second-largest exchange.

Buyout

After days of butting heads on Twitter amid rumors of financial troubles at FTX and Alameda Research, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried appear to have struck a deal that will see Binance acquire FTX.

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

FTX and the closely-affiliated Alameda Research have been plagued with rumors of financial woes since last week when a leaked balance sheet revealed that Alameda’s assets consisted substantially of illiquid FTT and Solana-based tokens. Despite reassurances from Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, the controversy led FTX users to withdraw their assets from the exchange—especially after Zhao himself posted on Twitter that Binance intended to liquidate its own FTT stash.

Various FTX users reported earlier today that they were unable to withdraw their funds from the exchange due to long processing times, prompting additional speculation that FTX could soon announce a complete withdrawal freeze.

The situation now appears to have been resolved, with Binance stepping in to provide sufficient liquidity for FTX to pay back its users should they wish to withdraw their funds.

Zhao appeared to confirm the news on Twitter:

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 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) November 8, 2022

Zhao added that the situation was dynamic and that Binance still had the option of withdrawing from the agreement at any time.

FTX.US, a separate entity from FTX, is not part of the deal and will not be acquired by Binance.

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information emerges.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned SOL, BNB, and several other digital assets.

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