The ticker FTT that CZ is talking about is the native token for the crypto exchange, FTX ($FTT.X). The Tweet’s language is a good lesson in Psychology 101 in interpreting intent. CZ dropped the $LUNA.X ticker to loosely associate FTX with Do ‘Con’ Kwon’s collapse of Terra.
Then the claim of not being against anyone but clearly stating, ‘we won’t support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs.’
You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who CZ is talking about. And it doesn’t take a BBC crime series writer to figure out that a Tweet like CZ’s would most definitely hurt FTX.
FTT dived lower by a little more than -11%, ultimately closing down -7%.
What’s the bad blood all about? It could be any number of hot topic issues: solvency rumors or SBF’s support of the Stabenow-Boozman bill – who knows? But Binance’s chief PR boss Tweeted, today, an unnamed competitor was spreading misinformation to the media and US policymakers:
I oversee comms at @binance and will reiterate that we DO NOT target other platforms. Transparently, this has been frustrating, especially after learning that a competitor was spreading misinformation to media and US policymakers. But @cz_binance refused to abandon the high road.
— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) November 6, 2022
But after CZ’s initial Tweet about selling off its FTT, Twitter user Whale Alert linked an on-chain transaction in the amount 23 million FTT tokens ($584 million).
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 22,999,999 #FTT (584,818,174 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Binancehttps://t.co/Nm2jz9MKW0
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) November 5, 2022
CZ confirmed the transaction was his (Binance).
Yes, this is part of it. https://t.co/TnMSqRTutr
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022
Whether the intention of CZ was to harm FTX or not, FTX got an assist from Alameda Research’s CEO.
@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
For those not in the know, Alameda Research is a quantitative trading firm founded by SBF. And whether Alameda’s CEO knows it or not, she essentially put a temporary floor on any FTT tokens that Binance may want to dump.
SBF, himself, took to Twitter this morning to clear up any lingering FUD – even pointing out that FTX has GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices) audits.
https://twitter.com/SBF_FTX/status/1589598284322328579
We’ll keep you all updated as this unravels.