The ongoing encounter between crypto exchange behemoths Binance and FTX is underway. The latter appears to be the loser at the moment, as its FTT token price is declining. Nevertheless, Binance claims that it does not want a fight.
The native token of the FTX exchange is down by over 30% in the past few hours. FTT had stabilized around the $22 range for most of yesterday. However, it started declining sharply during the Asian trading session on Tuesday morning.
According to TradingView, at the time of writing, FTT was down 32% in just four hours to around $15. It has now fallen 81 percent from its all-time high of $84 in September 2021.
FTX Token (FTT) Falls Down, But Binance Isn’t Fighting
Chinese media reporter Colin Wu noted the move. They reported that 1.9 million FTT tokens, worth approximately $44 million, were transferred from the Genesis OTC desk to FTX 12 hours ago.
He also said that Binance had refused to sell. CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao sparked this latest crypto feud by announcing the closure of the firm’s FTT position.
As reported by BeInCrypto, they announced this on November 6. This sparked a wave of bankruptcy speculation about FTX and Alameda, both founded by Sam Banksman-Fried.
At the time, CZ said that it would take months for the FTT token to take off due to market conditions and liquidity. In his most recent tweet on the subject on November 8, he said:
“Funny memes, media and some people tried to paint it as a “fight”. Sorry to disappoint, but I spend my energy building, not fighting.”
the story So Far
W3T Inc. The founder, Alex Valetis, posted some of the history between the two crypto billionaires on November 8th.
Binance invested in FTX when it launched in 2019, however, the SBF-founded exchange grew very quickly. In 2021, Binance chose to divest from FTX during its $900 million funding round.
SBF knows that to become the top dog in crypto, it needs to win over regulators in the United States. He is a huge political donor and has pledged nearly $40 million to the Crypto Democrat campaigns and candidates this election cycle.
Valetis believed that the two incidents opened FTX and SBF to attacks by Binance and CZ. Bankman-Fried’s proposals for heavy-handed rules made him an easy target.
Fears that the FTT token dominated Alameda’s balance sheet fueled the sale by the firm itself, or so it appears. Valetis said CZ’s “aggression” had two effects:
“1. It helped fuel the FUD narrative around the FTX bankruptcy and it led FTX to be against crypto.
2. This will allow Binance to have a significant impact on the price of $FTT by selling its tokens.”
On November 7, CZ virtually confirmed it was an attack of sorts with this tweet:
With the prices of FTT tokens currently declining, it seems that the crypto transition of 2022 is not over. The broader market is also reacting with a loss of 6% in overall market cap from the same time yesterday.
This will only play into the hands of global regulators, causing everyone to suffer in the end.
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