Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The world’s largest crypto exchange by volume, Binance, has announced plans to walk away from a deal with rival crypto exchange platform, FTX.
On Tuesday, Business Post reported that Binance signed a letter of intent to purchase its troubled competitor, FTX, in what appeared to be a potential bailout of the latter amid a liquidity crunch.
However, on Wednesday night, the plan appears to have crumbled, hours after Binance chief executive officer, Mr Changpeng Zhao, tweeted that FTX “going down is not good for anyone in the industry.”
Binance backed out after reviewing the company’s structure and books.
“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,” Binance said.
“As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged U.S. agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of [FTX],” Binance said in a tweet.
“Every time a major player in an industry fails, retail consumers will suffer,” Binance continued.
“We have seen over the last several years that the crypto ecosystem is becoming more resilient and we believe in time that outliers that misuse user funds will be weeded out by the free market,” it added.
