Before the Bankruptcy Filing, FTX Co-Founder SBF Was Told by Crypto Execs to ‘Stop Trying to Depeg Stablecoins’

According to a recent report published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), cryptocurrency executives were allegedly concerned that Sam Bankman Fried’s (SBF) Alameda Research was trying to “depeg stablecoins.” Purportedly, high-up executives from crypto exchanges are members of a Signal chat group called “Exchange coordination,” and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) ostensibly told SBF to stop causing “more damage.”

Binance CEO Allegedly Told SBF to Stop Causing ‘More Damage’ and to ‘Stop Trying to Depeg Stablecoins’

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that just before the crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy, there was a conversation between CZ and SBF on Nov. 10, 2022, in a Signal chat group called “Exchange coordination.” The Signal group’s chat logs were apparently seen by the WSJ and high up crypto execs like Tether’s CTO Paolo Ardoino and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell are purportedly members of the group.

The WSJ report details that SBF was accused of trying to destabalize stablecoins and more specifically tether (USDT). “A Tether official and the head of the world’s largest crypto exchange grew alarmed that Sam Bankman-Fried was trying to destabilize the stablecoin,” the WSJ reporters Patricia Kowsmann, Alexander Osipovich and Caitlin Ostroff allege. However, in a statement made to the WSJ, SBF denied the claims made in the report about the Signal chat conversation.

Kowsmann, Osipovich and Ostroff detail that Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao confronted SBF about the alleged depegging attempts. “Stop trying to depeg stablecoins,” CZ is cited as saying. “And stop doing anything. Stop now, don’t cause more damage.”

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has recently agreed to testify in front of U.S. Congress and he also discussed the idea of launching a new FTT token with crypto proponent Ran Neuner on Dec. 9. Additionally, revelations released this weekend indicate that The Block CEO Michael McCaffrey was secretly given more than $43 million from SBF’s Alameda Research. Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary also revealed this past Thursday that he was paid $15 million to be a spokesperson for FTX.

Tags in this story

Alameda Research, Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, CZ, depeg, Depeg stablecoin, Exchange coordination, Exchange Execs, Jesse Powell, Kraken, Paolo Ardoino, Sam Bankman-Fried, sbf, Signal Chat group, Stablecoins, Tether, Tether (USDT), USDT, Wall Street Journal, WSJ

What do you think about the alleged discussion between CZ and SBF a day before FTX collapsed? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.