BlockBeats News, April 8th, according to CoinDesk’s report, Binance founder CZ stated in his autobiography “Freedom of Money” that during a phone call before Binance’s attempted acquisition of FTX in November 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried casually asked him for “tens of billions of dollars, as if ordering a bologna sandwich,” and he never intended to actually pursue the deal from the beginning.
CZ wrote, “I was not interested in owning FTX, nor was I very interested in helping SBF. But we might have to take action to protect users and the entire industry.” He said that signing that non-binding letter of intent (LOI) was just a formality: “I made it clear at the time that we would not make any commitments. Our team was just evaluating the data and then deciding.”
Regarding the collapse of FTX, CZ believes the key turning point was when Alameda’s former CEO, Caroline Ellison, publicly proposed to buy back the FTT held by Binance at a price of $22 (attempting to stabilize the market), she made a “fatal mistake.” “She essentially exposed the price floor directly,” CZ wrote. Subsequently, professional traders quickly shorted FTT below that price. Within just 72 hours, about $6 billion flowed out of FTX.
CZ also revealed a Signal group called “Exchange Collaboration,” created by FTX’s former Head of Institutional Sales, Zane Tackett, during the Terra (LUNA) crash that year. Members included: CZ, SBF, Brian Armstrong (Coinbase CEO), Jesse Powell (Kraken co-founder), and other exchange executives. The group later attracted attention from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. “They were very eager to find evidence of collusion between exchanges or market manipulation, but in fact, there is no such situation,” CZ stated.
