Report: FTX Execs Offered Taylor Swift $100M to Endorse the Exchange, Source Says Singer Never Considered the Deal

December 7, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Ripple to consider deals for FTX assets: Brad Garlinghouse

November 20, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Acquisition

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said the company would be interested in companies owned by FTX that serve business customers.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is reportedly interested in buying certain parts of collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

On the sidelines of Ripple’s Swell conference in London — was held on Nov. 16 and 17 — Garlinghouse told The Sunday Times that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried called him two days before the company filed for bankruptcy as he sought to round up investors to rescue the business.

Our 6th annual #RippleSwell is underway! I took the stage this morning with @cnbcKaren to discuss all things Ripple, crypto utility, macroeconomic factors affecting crypto, and much more. A thread… pic.twitter.com/EDHW3nyka8
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) November 16, 2022

The Ripple CEO said that during the call, the two discussed if there were FTX-owned businesses that Ripple “would want to own.”

“Part of my conversation was if he needs liquidity, maybe there’s businesses that he has bought or he has that we would want to own [...] Would we have bought some of those from him? I definitely think that was on the table,” he said.

However, Garlinghouse admits that now that FTX has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States, a potential transaction for an FTX business will be “very different than it would have been one-to-one.”

“I’m not saying we won’t look at those things – I’m sure we will. But it’s a harder path to transact,” he added.

Approximately 130 companies affiliated with FTX, including FTX.US, were included in the bankruptcy filing in Delaware.

Some subsidiaries not included in the proceedings include crypto clearinghouse LedgerX, FTX Digital Markets, FTX Australia Pty, and payments processor FTX Express Pay.

Garlinghouse said he would be interested in buying the parts that served business customers.

Cointelegraph has reached out to Ripple for additional comment but has not received a response by the time of publication.

It appears that Ripple’s executives, like many in the industry, are following the latest developments of the FTX saga.

On Nov. 10, Ripple chief technology officer David Schwartz directed a message on Twitter toward employees of FTX, suggesting that there would be room at Ripple for them, so long as they aren’t involved in compliance, finance or business ethics.”

Hey @FTX_Official employees not involved in compliance, finance, or business ethics:@Ripple is always hiring.
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) November 10, 2022

FTX has recently appointed restructuring administration firm Kroll as its agent to track all claims against FTX and ensure interested parties are notified of developments throughout its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

FTX and Binance’s ongoing saga: Everything that’s happened until now

November 10, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Binance

The story between cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and FTX has quickly unfolded and caused havoc in the crypto market, here’s a breakdown of where it began and where it is now.

All dates are Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Nov. 2 — Reports SBF-founded company held significant amounts of FTT

The saga kicked off on Nov. 2 after reports that a leaked balance sheet from the Sam Bankman-Fried-founded trading firm Alameda Research suggested the company held a significant amount of FTX Token (FTT), the native token of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

A large trading firm holding so much of one asset concerned the crypto community and brought questions regarding the relationship between Alameda and FTX.

Nov. 5 — Trackers pick up significant FTT movement to Binance

On Nov. 5 the Twitter account Whale Alert, which tracks significant on-chain crypto movements, notified its users that nearly 23 million FTT worth over $584.5 million moved onto Binance.

22,999,999 #FTT (584,818,174 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Binance https://t.co/Nm2jz9MKW0
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) November 5, 2022

At the time, the amount was worth around 17% of the FTT circulating supply.

Nov. 6 — Alameda CEO explains the balance sheet

Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison tried to quell any panic in a Nov. 6 tweet saying the leaked balance sheet wasn’t reflective of the whole story and noted that sheet, in particular, was only for “a subset of our corporate entities” and other assets worth over $10 billion “aren’t reflected there.”

- the balance sheet breaks out a few of our biggest long positions; we obviously have hedges that aren’t listed
- given the tightening in the crypto credit space this year we’ve returned most of our loans by now
— Caroline (@carolinecapital) November 6, 2022

Nov. 6 — Binance moves to liquidate FTT holdings due to 'recent revelations'

Later on Nov. 6, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said his exchange would liquidate its entire FTT holdings citing “recent revelations that have come to light” believed to be in reference to the Alameda balance sheet.

Zhao said Binance held around $2.1 billion equivalent in Binance USD (BUSD) and FTT due to its FTX divestment last year but didn’t clarify Binance’s current FTT holdings.

He added it would sell the tokens in a way that “minimizes market impact”, expecting the token sales to take “a few months to complete.”

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

He also confirmed the Nov. 5 transfer of nearly 23 million FTT was part of Binance’s liquidation move.

Zhao added later the move was “just post-exit risk management,” and referred to lessons learned from the collapse of Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) and its market impact, as opposed to being caused by a scuffle on Twitter.

Nov. 6 — Alameda CEO offers to buy Binance’s FTT holdings

Shortly after Zhao’s Nov. 6 announcement of Binance liquidating its FTT position, Ellison tweeted to Zhao saying Alameda would “happily buy it all” for $22 per share.

@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

Nov. 7 — FTX ‘bank-run’ begins, exchange addresses sluggish withdrawals

With reports and rumors swirling, FTX users began to withdraw their funds from the exchange for fear it would go bust, and commentators implored those who hadn’t already to get their crypto out of FTX.

Get your funds out of FTX. This is financial advice.
— Ran Neuner (@cryptomanran) November 6, 2022

Reported data from Nansen on Nov. 7 showed stablecoin outflows on FTX reached $451 million over seven days, and users began to report sluggish withdrawals on FTX with the exchange addressing the withdrawal complaints assuring users everything was running smoothly.

Nov. 7 — SBF says ‘assets are fine’, implores CZ to come together

Shortly after the exchange addressed user concerns, Bankman-Fried fired off a series of tweets saying a competitor “is trying to go after us with false rumors” and added that “FTX is fine. Assets are fine.”

He claimed the exchange has “enough to cover all client holdings”, that it doesn’t “invest client assets” and has been “processing all withdrawals, and will continue to be.”

He claimed FTX had $1 billion in excess cash and called on Zhao to “work together for the ecosystem.”

Nov. 7 — CZ refuses Alameda’s over-the-counter deal

Responding to a question on Twitter Zhao signaled his disinterest in taking up the deal earlier poised by Ellison to buy Binance’s FTT holdings for $22 per token saying “I think we will stay in the free market.”

I didn't say that. It was a question, not a commitment. I think we will stay in the free market.

We still hold LUNA (now LUNC) today.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 7, 2022

Nov. 8 — FTT price and crypto markets start to waiver

Some analysts began to warn on Nov. 7 of a significant price drawdown of FTT due to the series of announcements and early on Nov. 8 the FTT price dove around 30% to around $15.40 from $22 in a matter of hours.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) also started to buckle with fears that FTX could soon be going under.

Nov. 8 — FTX faces a 'liquidity crunch', moves to sell exchange to Binance

In a shock announcement, Bankman-Fried said on Nov. 8 that FTX had “come to an agreement on a strategic transaction” with Binance for the exchange to help cover what he called a “liquidity crunch.”

He added “all assets will be covered 1:1” and cited this as the main reason FTX asked Binance to step in.

Zhao said shortly after that Binance had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire the exchange, but noted they reserved the right to “pull out from the deal at any time.”

Nov. 8-9 — SBF removes ‘assets are fine’ tweet, FTX websites go dark

Late on Nov. 8, a few hours after announcing the deal with Binance, Bankman-Fried deleted his accusatory tweet thread that also claimed FTX and its assets were “fine.”

On Nov. 9 the websites for FTX’s venture capital arm FTX Ventures and Alameda were taken offline whilst unconfirmed reports circulate that FTX’s legal and compliance staff quit on Nov. 8.

Reports on Nov. 9 began to surface that Binance is possibly looking to back out of the agreement.

Nov. 9 — Binance officially backs out of the agreement

Less than 48 hours after the initial announcement by Zhao that Binance could move to buy FTX, Binance announced on Nov. 9 that it will not be pursuing the acquisition of FTX.

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 https://t.co/FQ3MIG381f.
— Binance (@binance) November 9, 2022

The exchange cited the reported alleged “[mishandling] of customer funds and alleged US agency investigations” adding “the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.”

Nov. 9 — Crypto market in a sea of red

The crypto market responded to the news with investor sentiment turning fearful with Bitcoin’s price hitting a multi-year low of $15,600, analysts expected further downside, suggesting Bitcoin could settle around the $12,000 mark.

Nov. 9 — SBF reportedly tells investors he needs $8B in emergency funding

Reports emerged on Nov. 9 that Bankman-Fried asked investors on a call for $8 billion in emergency funding to cover the “liquidity crunch” caused by user withdrawals over the past few days.

Bankman-Fried reportedly was seeking to raise up to $4 billion from investors, and cover the remaining sum with debt financing and even his own personal fortune to make customers whole.

Nov. 9 — FTX website urges against depositing, unable to process withdrawals

FTX’s website experienced downtime on Nov. 9 for around two hours and when brought back online, came with a warning strongly advising against depositing and that the exchange was unable to process withdrawals.

The warning was further confirmed in a pinned post on FTX’s official Telegram channel with its administrator saying crypto and fiat withdrawals were affected and that they had “no idea” when it would be back online, saying they also “have a lack of information at this point.”

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5,000 miles apart: Thailand and Hungary to jointly explore blockchain tech

October 31, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

The pact between the two nations' financial technology associations will see cooperation on technology, including blockchain, to power their respective financial industries.

The financial technology associations for Thailand and Hungary have signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support the introduction of blockchain technology to their respective financial sectors.

The MOU, signed by the Thai Fintech Association (TFA) and the Hungarian Blockchain Coalition on Oct. 25, will see the two associations “share experiences, best practices and explore areas potentially beneficial for direct cooperation,” according to a Facebook post by the Embassy of Hungary in Bangkok.

TFA president Chonladet Khemarattana said that e-commerce, mobile payments, and digital currencies are growing rapidly in Thailand and that international cooperation is needed to further develop local financial technology, according to an Oct. 29 report from the Bangkok Post.

He also claimed 20% of the world’s crypto holders are in Thailand, the country placed eighth on the 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index released in September by analytics firm Chainalysis and crypto payments company TripleA estimates almost 6.5% of the population owns cryptocurrency,

The Hungarian Blockchain Coalition was jointly created by the country’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology and the National Data and Economy Knowledge Centre in March 2022, while the Thai Fintech Association is a non-profit founded in 2016 with the aim of representing the local financial technology industry including cryptocurrency exchanges.

The pact comes as Thailand’s central bank, along with some of the country’s commercial banks, were involved in the testing of a cross-border wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) transaction platform using distributed ledger technology in September.

The Bank of Thailand also announced in August it was looking to start a pilot of a retail CBDC by the end of 2022 at a limited scale in the private sector among roughly 10,000 users. It would test the digital currency using “cash-like activities” such as paying for goods or services.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has enacted some restrictions on crypto this year, with it banning the use of cryptocurrencies for payments in March saying they “could affect the stability of the financial system.”

The regulator is also cracking down on crypto lending platforms with the SEC planning to prohibit crypto exchanges from providing or supporting digital asset depository services.

Hungary seemingly takes a similar hard stance on cryptocurrencies, in February the governor of the Hungarian National Bank, György Matolcsy, wanted a blanket ban on all crypto trading and mining across the European Union saying it “serviced illegal activities” and was “speculative.”