The cancellation of the Binance-FTX deal sent the Bitcoin and crypto markets tumbling lower yesterday. When the statement was released late Wednesday afternoon that Binance was pulling out of the tentative deal, crypto markets crashed.
The Bitcoin (BTC) price fell below $16,000 for the first time since November 2020, with BTC hitting a low of $15,690 on Binance.
While many analysts warn that an bankruptcy could set the crypto industry back years, Bloomberg reported that FTX is in need of an $8 billion capital infusion for its rescue.
The crypto industry’s supposed “white knight” and CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, confirmed this amount, which has been rumored for quite some time, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
As Bloomberg reports, Bankman-Fried informed investors about this matter in a phone call shortly before Binance backed out of the deal. The investors include BlackRock, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Circle, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Paradigm, Tiger Global, SoftBank, Ribbit Capital, Alan Howard, Multicoin Capital and VanEck.
The anonymous source further leaked that the troubled exchange is seeking bailout funding in the form of debt, equity or a combination of both. SBF reportedly said in the phone call, “I f—ed up,” and that he would be “incredibly, unbelievably grateful” if investors could help him.
Is There Still Hope For An FTX Bailout?
Now that the Binance deal is history, the fate of FTX seems to be hanging by a thread. However, there might still be two small sparks of hope, even if Sequoia Capital does not share the hope and already announced that they will write off their entire investment in FTX and FTX.us, as revealed yesterday.
One hope is Singaporean state-owned Temasek. As NewsBTC reported yesterday, the company is said to have contacted SBF in its role as investor after Binance announced its tentative bailout deal.
According to an anonymous source, a Temasek representative reportedly expressed that a CZ takeover “would make Binance reign supreme in the crypto world”.
At the same time, the Temasek spokesperson clarified that no details about the talks can be disclosed at this time. “[G]iven the ongoing discussions between both companies, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment beyond that”.
Temasek might not be the only option to save the sinking ship, either. Justin Sun, the controversial but billionaire founder of the Tron blockchain has posted a series of ambiguous tweets promising a “solution.”
Bankman-Fried, for his part, retweeted the tweets, which is the first action he has taken on Twitter since reporting the Binance deal. Sun wrote:
Further to my announcement to stand behind all Tron token (#TRX, #BTT, #JST, #SUN, #HT) holders on #FTX, we are putting together a solution together with #FTX to initiate a pathway forward.
The ongoing liquidity crunch, despite short term in nature, is harmful to the industry development and investors alike.
My team has been working around the clock to avert further deterioration. I have faith that the situation is manageable following the wholistic approach together with our partners. Stay tuned #TRON @FTX_Official!
It is currently questionable whether Sun kept the tweet intentionally vague in order to do marketing and only save Tron tokens or whether he is actually interested in a bailout of the exchange.
[UPDATE:] Following recent tweets of Justin Sun, the TRX token is currently trading for a massive premium on FTX. Sun said that “TRX trading on FTX has resumed. Working on withdrawal function. Stay tuned.”
TRX on FTX is trading for $1. On Binance it’s $0.06. Users are buying TRX because it’s the only way to exit FTX. Apex scammer Justin Sun has convinced Sam to engage in TRX games to save FTX in his moment of desperation. https://t.co/xSXkxckNg4 pic.twitter.com/Q2xOHStyNf
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) November 10, 2022
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