FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance CZ trade words on social media
last month, Sam Bankman-Fried FTX exchange imploded. To understand the magnitude of the explosion, you should know that, earlier this year, FTX was valued at $32 billion by private investors.
When the issue of FTX’s liquidity crunch came to light, Bankman-Fried was said to be scrambling to raise money from venture capitalists and other investors before he approached Binance. The CEO of Binance, Chanpeng Zhao or CZ, initially agreed to step in, but his company quickly changed course, citing reports of “mishandled customer funds” and U.S. agency investigations.
A month after the incident, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, resurfaced on the matter after CZ tweeted about FTX’s support of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary. Thinking from
Zhao slammed “Mr. Wonderful,” Kevin O’Leary, claiming that Binance does its due diligence even after investing.
The Binance CEO also said that as an early investor in FTX, it became increasingly uncomfortable with Alameda and SBF and began the exit process more than 1.5 years ago.
In response to Zhao’s tweets, Sam Bankman-Fried said, “You won, @cz_binance.”
The SBF said that the negotiations for the purchase were initiated because it was necessary at that time. He expressed regret that, while he was disappointed by CZ’s “negotiating” strategy, he chose to do it anyway.
The FTX founder added, “You threatened to walk at the last minute if we didn’t kick in an extra $75 million. We did it anyway because this just made us feel more confident we didn’t want Binance on our cap table. But again, none of this is necessary. You won. Why are you lying about this now?”
Zhao responded by saying to the SBF that it did not matter because it was never a contest or a fight, and therefore no one won.
SBF, in a separate tweet, said he was willing to testify before the House committee to shed light on the FTX implosion.
