A Fox news correspondent is reporting that Binance has decided purchasing FTX is not a good idea and has declined to acquire the crypto exchange after it got a view of its books.
Eleanore Terrett of Fox was first with the news quoting Binance Chief Strategy Office Patrick Hillmann in a Twitter thread, who apparently explained that:
“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. In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.”
He added:
🚨BREAKING: @cz_binance scraps deal for @FTX_Official. Here is the official statement from Chief Strategy Officer @PRHillmann:
“As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations,
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) November 9, 2022
Binance has now affirmed the same via Twitter, echoing Hillmann’s statement.
Binance stated:
“In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.”
Alameda Research, the trading platform owned by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried that has played a role in the demise of FTX, has now pulled its website.
It has been reported that Bankman-Fried failed to raise sufficient funding from its past investors, calling Binance CEO Chengpeng “CZ” Zhou as a last resort. At this point, due to the glaring lack of operational controls that have caused FTX to fail, investors can only feel like they were misled by Bankman-Fried regarding a crypto exchange that was recently valued at $32 billion.
As was previously reported, rumblings of a regulatory probe may indicate a forthcoming lawsuit against FTX.
Developing…