It’s a no go. The CEO of FTX’s trading company, Alameda Research, offered Changpeng Zhao to buy FTT tokens from Binance. However, Zhao refused to do so. Tensions continue to rise between Binance and FTX, how far will this go
Changpeng Zhao won’t sell FTT to Alameda Research
Caroline Elison, the CEO of Alameda Research, waved a white flag yesterday. She offered Changpeng Zhao to buy Binance’s FTT tokens for $22 each, in order to limit the impact of liquidations on the market. But Binance’s CEO was not particularly keen to accept the offer, if his response is anything to go by:
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 Binance (@cz_binance) November 7, 2022
“I think we’re going to stay in the open market. We still hold LUNA (now LUNC) today. “
Tensions that are still not easing
Binance’s plan is to gradually sell off its FTTs over the next few months. Changpeng Zhao tried to play it cool overnight, explaining on Twitter that he didn’t expect so many reactions to his announcement. But the words used earlier this week leave little room for doubt: the Binance CEO questioned the integrity of his rival:
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 will not support people lobbying against other industry players behind their backs. “
So the atmosphere remains particularly frosty between Binance and FTX. And this is likely to continue, if the trajectory of Sam Bankman-Fried’s platform’s FTT token is anything to go by. It plunged by more than 25% in a few minutes during the night. Binance has also been singled out.
And the bickering of “CZ” and “SBF” is having its consequences: the cryptocurrency market has plunged, in an uncertain macro context with the US midterms elections. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen back below the $20,000 mark, which it had bravely managed to hold in recent days. We will therefore be watching for any future scuffles between Binance and FTX.
