Crypto prices plummeted as FTX unraveled

Crypto prices cratered throughout the week as the FTX controversy played out at breakneck speed.

Bitcoin was trading at $16,500 today, down 23% over the past week, while ether lost 25% in the same period to trade at $1,219, according to data via CoinGecko.

BTCUSD chart by TradingView

Altcoins also traded down throughout the week. Binance’s BNB shed 21% to trade at $274, and Solana’s SOL lost 63%. Tether’s USDT briefly traded below its peg to the U.S. dollar on Thursday amid the market turmoil.

What the FTX?

On Sunday, Nov. 6, Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed plans to sell its FTT tokens. The following day, Sam Bankman-Fried insisted FTX was “fine.” By Tuesday, however, Binance had reached a deal to acquire FTX.com.

By Wednesday, Binance’s budding acquisition was off. “Our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help,” Binance said. 

From Wednesday onwards, FTX began to quickly unravel, and rumors of emergency fundraising to plug a $9 billion hole were swirling. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, along with more than 100 corporate entities affiliated with the firm, including Alameda Research and FTX US.

Here’s a comprehensive timeline of the week and all that happened with FTX.

Macro matters

The U.S. inflation rate for October was 7.7%, a month-on-month increase of 0.4%. Analysts had predicted an 8% increase for the month, based on FactSet data. In September, inflation increased by 0.4% month-on-month from August. 

The report buoyed prices before they crashed again following FTX’s collapse. 

source: bea.gov and federalreserve.gov.

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