Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao cited “new developments” as the cause for the FTX token liquidation, stating that owing to the size of its holding, the sale of its tokens might take months to complete.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said that his business will sell its whole investment in FTX Token. the native coin of rival exchange FTX.
Zhao stated in a tweet on November 6 that the decision was taken in light of “recent developments that have come to light.”
CZ subsequently claimed the FTT liquidation was “simply post-exit risk management,” alluding to lessons acquired from Terra’s Luna Classic (LUNC) crash and how it impacted market players.
“We will not assist persons who campaign against other industry participants behind their backs,” he stressed.
Liquidating our FTT is just post-exit risk management, learning from LUNA. We gave support before, but we won’t pretend to make love after divorce. We are not against anyone. But we won’t support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs. Onwards.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022
We believe that Binance’s move to liquidate the token is in response to accusations that a newly leaked balance sheet from Sam Bankman-Fried-founded Alameda Research says that billions of dollars in Alameda’s assets are locked up in FTX’s token.
More on Binance’s decision
In a Nov. 6 tweet, Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison stated that the balance sheet in question is just for “a portion of our business entities” and that additional assets worth more than $10 billion “aren’t listed there.”
– the balance sheet breaks out a few of our biggest long positions; we obviously have hedges that aren’t listed
– given the tightening in the crypto credit space this year we’ve returned most of our loans by now— Caroline (@carolinecapital) November 6, 2022
In a tweet, Bankman-Fried backed Ellison’s assertion, adding a “bunch of baseless claims have been spreading.”
When we inquired about the grounds for the liquidation, a spokeswoman for Binance stated that the business had no additional details “at this moment.”
Zhao did not specify how much FTT Binance will sell, but he did reveal that the exchange had around $2.1 billion USD equivalent in Binance USD (BUSD) — the exchange’s stablecoin — and FTT following its departure from FTX equity last year.
He went on to say that Binance will strive to sell the tokens in a way that “minimizes market effect,” and that the token sales would take “a few months to complete.”
On-chain investigation revealed that almost 23 million FTT, valued at around $584 million at the time of writing, were moved from an unknown wallet to Binance, which Zhao said was part of the exchange’s token unloading.
Yes, this is part of it. https://t.co/TnMSqRTutr
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022
The price of FTT spun on the succession of announcements, spiking from roughly $23 to $24.50 in a two-hour period on Nov. 6, followed by a 9% drop to $22.28. FTT is down more than 4.3% in the last 24 hours, trading at roughly $22.50.
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