Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison says leaked balance sheet misses full story

Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison said Sunday that leaked information about the firm’s balance sheet only tells part of the story.

On Nov. 2, CoinDesk reported that a leaked balance sheet from Alameda listed $3.66 billion in “unlocked FTT,” referring to the token of crypto exchange FTX, as well as $2.16 billion worth of “FTT collateral.” The leaked balance sheet showed a total of $14.6 billion in assets and some $8 billion in liabilities.

The leaked balance sheet and the FTT holdings further illustrated the close links between the two companies.

Ellison tweeted earlier today that the leaked information on Alameda’s balance sheet misses billions worth of other assets.

A few notes on the balance sheet info that has been circulating recently:

– that specific balance sheet is for a subset of our corporate entities, we have > $10b of assets that aren’t reflected there

— Caroline (@carolinecapital) November 6, 2022

Ellison continued: “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.”

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said later that the firm would begin selling off its FTT holdings “due to recent revelations that have came to light.” Zhao didn’t clarify exactly how much of FTT this would entail, though he said Binance previously received about $2.1 billion worth BUSD and FTT “[a]s part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year.”

Ellison responded, offering to buy Binance’s FTT holdings at $22 per token.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried also responded to CZ’s post: “I wish the best to everyone driving the industry forward. I respect the hell out of what y’all have done to build the industry as we see it today, whether or not they reciprocate, and whether or not we use the same methods. Including CZ.”

The public announcements on Sunday sent FTT’s price gyrating, according to TradingView data.

FTTUSD Chart by TradingView

© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.