Does Binance CEO CZ really intend to buy FTX?

Does Binance CEO CZ really intend to buy FTX?

Ever since Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao announced that he was looking to acquire Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, there has been one question that doesn’t seem to have a clear answer.

After all, CZ had already driven his rival to the point of bankruptcy, damaged his reputation, and all but shut down his business.

So what will Binance gain by having a balance sheet that has a gap of around $6 billion? Customers, may be the obvious answer. FTX was the third largest exchange in the world by volume, before its implosion. But FTX has already gone free following CZ’s public campaign against SBF. Consumer confidence quickly faded as the Binance CEO lawsuit escalated, but it’s likely that many of them would have found a new home on Binance anyway. What about the new situation in the United States? FTX does not accept US customers, so no point. But sometimes Binance came back to the table – albeit for a short time – to ask SBF to sweeten the deal and add FTX.US, that is not reasonable given the many orders of Binance in the United States.

Maybe he’s trying to avoid a spread in the market that could damage his own? As someone who broke the news, we should think that the market reaction took Zhao by surprise. And given his masterclass in the art of war, seems to be extended. What is CZ really trying to achieve?
In fact, it’s hard to see why CZ would be interested in FTX. Its technology is nothing short of mind-blowing, and its existing business integration is a no-brainer. Controlling the market he will get may make the regulators more interested in suing him. So we are left with one idea.

Despite his denial that Binance has any kind of “grand plan” in this public controversy, we can imagine that the opposite is true. And perhaps CZ intends to destroy his opponent, defeating him completely in such a way that he cannot return for the former crypto prodigy.

Maybe not just speculation, we can examine the actions, not just the words, of which a man tweeted a quote from Sun Tzu in June 2022: “In the midst of chaos there is also opportunity.

Would Binance CEO CZ Really Buy FTX?

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Boy, there was a lot of chaos this week. We don’t know – and few seem to question – where CoinDesk obtained the partial balance sheet of Alameda that started all this. (The same reporter announced that Binance was considering pulling out of the deal a few days later.)

But given what happened when their story came out, cui bono? Use media to destroy your opponent
We have not previously reported that Binance has been contacted through official and unofficial channels by both Blockworks to draw attention to the negative news and other investigations with Sam Bankman-Fried, and to discuss the fact that our media “should check it out”. .

Two of these contacts took place on October 26, several days before CoinDesk published Alameda’s balance sheet. The other is November 4, a few days later.

And there’s also Twitter’s CZ weapon. For someone who repeatedly says he will not support fear, uncertainty, doubt (FUD), it’s hard to imagine publicly announcing that you’re clearing hundreds of millions of dollars from The transformation of your competitor is something more than a declaration of war… and a precursor to crypto-bank.

In subsequent tweets, he confirmed the name of LUNA, the failed algorithmic stablecoin project – if we did not get it in the first place – and clearly posted that “we will not support those who run against d’ other industry players n “Back. Their back” clearly refers to Bankman-Fried’s negative comments about Binance to US lawmakers. (It’s also worth noting the timing of this whole event. SBF is still in the public eye for its views on DeFi standards, which caused it to lose public confidence in the first place.)

Although Binance does not have Alameda’s balance sheet in its hands, and it has no part in showing it to the press, Zhao’s actions caused the price of FTT to fall significantly, which, because the symbol appears to support Loans and FTX, created specific conditions for. lenders to withdraw TTF approved loans. (By the way, there is no excuse for FTX’s behavior here, especially if customer funds are involved. It’s dangerous, stupid, and possibly illegal. But that’s for another story.)

Fast forward to the announcement on Binance with an unrelated letter of intent to buy FTX. And later that same day, another tweet:

“Two major lessons:

1: Don’t use your brand as a contract. 2: Don’t invest if you’re in a rush