Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO of Binance, is not interested in selling his company’s FTX tokens in an OTC deal with Alameda.
In a recent Tweet as a response to a potential Alameda involvement, he said: “I think we will stay in the free market.”
Alameda’s CEO, Caroline Elison, offered publicly to buy all of the FTT Binance plans to sell for $22 per piece on Sunday. However, CZ’s response makes it clear that Binance will most likely go by its plan and slowly sell the tokens on the open market.
Moreover, the billionaire’s evasive language significantly impacted the market. In addition to driving the value of the FTX token down by 10%, it also sparked widespread crypto withdrawals from FTX due to what appears to be user fear over the status of their assets. In fact, Binance appears to have seen about equal net inflows over the last 24 hours.
CZ’s comments didn’t sit well with FTX CEO Sam Bankam Fried, who claimed on Twitter on Friday that “a rival” was trying to discredit him by spreading “false information.”
“FTX has enough to cover all clients’ holdings. We have processing all withdrawals and will continue to be.” – he stated.
CZ disputes any allegations of a “plot” against FTX or that he and the CEO of FTX are at odds.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I spend my energy building, not fighting.” – he said on Monday.