On Nov. 9, less than 48 hours after Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, announced his intentions to bail out troubled competitor FTX, the firm stated that it would not be pursuing the deal. Binance had signed a nonbinding letter of intent on Nov. 8 that allowed the firm to either fully acquire the FTX exchange, proceed with a partial acquisition of assets, or walk away from the agreement.
“As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com.”
Binance explained that initially, it wanted to support the ailing crypto exchange by providing its customers with liquidity; however, issues were “beyond our control or ability to help.” The firm also said, “Every time a major player in an industry fails, retail consumers will suffer,” while adding that the ecosystem will eventually become more resilient with the weeding out of bad players.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.