The liquidation of Binance’s holdings could take months due to the size of its positions, according to CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder and CEO of Binance, announced his company would sell its entire position in the native token of competing exchange FTX.
Zhao said the decision was made after the “recent disclosures that have arrived to light.” After explaining the FTT liquidation was ‘just post-exit risk management in a subsequent tweet, CZ cited the impact of Terra’s Luna Classic (LUNC) on the market.
Bankman-Fried’s regulatory proposals that suggested restrictions on Defi were criticized for weeks in a blog post that he wrote for FTX’s founder and CEO. He has since dedicated himself to adjusting his regulatory part.
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In 2018, Binance exited early equity positions it had held in FTX and a position in FTT that it had acquired in 2019. According to Zhao, FTT, and BUSD, Binance’s native cryptocurrency, were combined to pay $2.1 billion for FTX to purchase Binance’s stake in the company.
Binance received about USD 2.1 billion equivalent in cash (both BUSD and FTT) as part of its exit from FTX equity last year. Recent revelations prompted our decision to dissolve any remaining FTT on our books.
As part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year, Binance received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT). Due to recent revelations that have came to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books. 1/4
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022
However, FTT is down 9.5% from $25.55 to $23.03 today, according to CoinGecko, and rebounding from a low of around $22 yesterday.
Etherscan reports that 22,999,999 FTT were transferred from a wallet on Saturday to Binance’s exchange, worth $584 million. Using CoinGecko, it represents 17% of FTT’s circulating supply. According to CZ, the funds were shifted as part of the exchange’s move to liquidate its holdings in FTT.
It wasn’t a shot at its competitor, Zhao said in a Twitter thread on Sunday. A Twitter user suggested, however, that loans secured by the token might be affected by the sale.
The Czech Republic is slowly getting rid of $500M in the FTT market. Suppose will lead to the liquidation of many of Alameda’s FTT-backed loans. It’s time to party!
Looks like CZ is slowly dumping $500M worth of FTT on the market, if he continues many of Alameda’s FTT backed loans will be liquidated causing a death spiral.
Let the party begin! pic.twitter.com/lKJ1zwr17S— Bitcoin vs. Gold (@VersusBtc) November 6, 2022
If Zhao was looking to “minimize the market impact” of the move, Caroline Ellison, CEO of Bankman Fried’s crypto research firm, Alameda Research, offered to buy Binance’s remaining FTTs for $22.
@cz_binance if you’re looking to minimize the market impact on your FTT sales, Alameda will happily buy it all from you today at $22!
— Caroline (@carolinecapital) November 6, 2022
According to the volume of FTT traded on Binance yesterday, it has led the way. FTT’s trading volume on Binance, according to CoinGecko, was $95.4 million during the past 24 hours.
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The sum of Binance’s initial investment in FTX is unknown, but Zhao recently told Forbes that Binance was “very pleased” with FTX’s growth.
He said Binance had held onto its position in FTT too long, although his company typically holds tokens for the long haul.