Binance Done with FTT

Market Meditations | November 7, 2022

This year’s bankruptcies across exchanges like Voyager and Celsius have justifiably put many users on edge when it comes to storing their crypto on third-party platforms. So when Binance CEO, CZ, announced that Binance is selling all its remaining FTT, it raised more than a few eyebrows.

  • Binance is planning on liquidating all of their remaining FTT. CZ said that in order to minimize the market impact and that due to market conditions & limited liquidity, they would do this liquidation over the next few months.
  • While we do not know how much FTT Binance has, CZ reminded us that “as part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year, [they] received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT).”
  • Blockchain explorer Etherscan showed an address moving 23 million FTT to a Binance exchange wallet on Saturday.
  • Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison responded by tweeting that Alameda would “happily buy [all their FTT] today at $22.

So why is he selling? CZ tweeted that Binance exiting its position is “post-exit risk management” then saying, “we won’t support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs.

So is this move the result of solvency concerns or philosophical differences of opinion about the best path forward for future crypto regulation? Since CZ is scaling out of Binance’s FTX position over months, a sense of urgency doesn’t appear to be playing a significant role in the move at the moment.