CZ says FTX paid R$220 million to fund the news against Binance
CriptoFácil – Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said its rival FTX – which is in the process of bankruptcy – has paid a total of US$43 million (about R$220 million) to fund the news against Binance.
In Twitter Space on Tuesday (24), CZ alleged that the payment was made to a crypto news agency that regularly publishes articles promoting FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) regarding the exchange. Czechoslovakia did not name the agency.
As reported by CryptoSlate, CZ states that traders with short positions are looking to “generate negative news” to improve their trades. Regarding the negative media allegedly funded by FTX, the CEO of Binance stated:
“I don’t think it’s going to stop, but I don’t think it’s going to bother us much going forward.”
Czechoslovakia also highlighted that “people are very smart” and are able to “make their own judgments”. “Most people are no longer fooled by clickbait titles,” he said.
Binance and FTX: CZ vs SBF
The relationship between Binance and FTX has intensified in recent months after information was leaked about the balance sheet of FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research. As revealed by CoinDesk, a large portion of Alameda’s balance sheet was made up of its native FTX token, FTT.
Faced with this, CZ went public to inform that Binance would sell all of its stakes in the token as a form of “risk management.” This started the FTX crisis that spread to the entire cryptocurrency market, resulting in a series of bankruptcy filings. Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison has offered to buy Binance’s FTT stakes. But Czechoslovakia refused, saying he preferred a “free market”.
At this time, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was adamantly denying that there were problems with Alameda and FTX. He even went so far as to say that there was an attempt to be “persecuted” by a competing company. In this case, Binance.
A competitor is trying to harass us with false rumors. FTX is good. The assets are fine,” he tweeted at the time.
But in a short time the theater was over. On November 8th, Binance announced that it intends to buy FTX, in what the SBF called a “strategic transaction.” However, after due diligence and evaluation of FTX accounts, CZ pulled out of the transaction.
Days later, in November 2022, the SBF exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is estimated that FTX owes about $10 billion to one million creditors, including investors and customers.
by CryptoFacil