FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has said the cryptocurrency exchange is “in the best of hands”, hours after announcing a deal for its acquisition by competitor Binance.
The breaking crypto news today that Binance had agreed to buy FTX.com, found many in the crypto community by surprise – moreso after SBF had said on Monday that the crypto exchange was “fine” and that a competitor was trying to take advantage of “false rumours” to hurt it.
Today, the man christened the “JP Morgan of Crypto” announced Changpeng Zhao’s Binance would be buying it pending approval.
But in doing so, Bankman-Fried believes FTX is set to fall into safe hands – that’s if Binance completes the acquisition.
“I know that there have been rumors in media of conflict between our two exchanges, however Binance has shown time and again that they are committed to a more decentralized global economy while working to improve industry relations with regulators. We are in the best of hands.”
According to Bankman-Fried, the Binance deal protects customers. It is a “user-centric development that benefits the entire industry,” he noted.
4) A *huge* thank you to CZ, Binance, and all of our supporters. This is a user-centric development that benefits the entire industry. CZ has done, and will continue to do, an incredible job of building out the global crypto ecosystem, and creating a freer economic world.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 8, 2022
FTX had paused withdrawals
Binance’s agreement to step in came as news spread that FTX had paused withdrawals amid a liquidity crunch. And it all sounded a bit like crypto was back in time to that summer of 2022 and the events that surrounded companies such as Celsius and Voyager after the collapse of LUNA and Three Arrows.
It appears crypto was headed for one of its biggest collapses in history. But Binance has stepped in and on the current FTX situation following the acquisition news, SBF noted:
“Our teams are working on clearing out the withdrawal backlog as is. This will clear out liquidity crunches; all assets will be covered 1:1. This is one of the main reasons we’ve asked Binance to come in. It may take a bit to settle etc. — we apologize for that.”