Binance to Sell Rest of FTX Token Holdings

Key points:

FTX buying its FTT token from Binance at a price of $22.
The price of FTT fell 14% in 24 hours to $22.02, its lowest price since June, according to CoinMarketCap. At press time, FTT prices have recovered to $23.03.
On Saturday, Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison responded to rumors on Twitter that Alameda has more than $10 billion in assets "not reflected" on its leaked balance sheet.

In response to a report on the balance sheet of trading firm Alameda Research, Binance's CEO tweeted Sunday that he will sell the remaining FTT tokens on his books, which he took over from Alameda's sister company FTX last year.

Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao did not disclose how much FTT his firm will sell; however, as part of Binance's exit from FTX equity last year, the cryptocurrency exchange received roughly $2.1 billion worth in the form of BUSD (Binance's stablecoin) and FTT.

As part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year, Binance received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT). Due to recent revelations that have came to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books. 1/4

CZ tweeted

Meanwhile, Alameda's CEO tweeted that their trading company's financials are in better shape than the balance sheet has written. In response to the Binance CEO’s post, she also offered to buy his company’s FTT tokens for $22 each.

@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, the CEO of FTX posted in her Twitter

Speculation about the FTT token led to extreme price volatility amid back-and-forth Twitter trades.

FTT Perpetual Futures 1-day

In its original tweet, CZ said the Binance sale would be done in a way that "minimizes the impact on the market" and could take "months to complete."

Blockchain explorer Etherscan revealed an address on Saturday afternoon that moved 23 million FTT, worth about $530 million, to a wallet on the Binance exchange.

The price of FTT fell 14% in 24 hours to $22.02, its lowest price since June, according to CoinMarketCap. At press time, FTT prices have recovered to $23.03.

CZ’s announcement comes after rumors about the financial health of Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research, surfaced after a leaked balance sheet verified showed the trading firm disclosed on March 30. It was revealed that Alameda lost $14.6 billion in assets and $8 billion in liabilities, including $7.4 billion in unidentified loans.

On Saturday, Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison responded to rumors on Twitter that Alameda has more than $10 billion in assets "not reflected" on its leaked balance sheet. Ellison added that Alameda holds undisclosed hedges and has paid off most of its outstanding loans.

CZ added that the sale of FTT held by Binance should not be interpreted as disparaging rival exchanges.

“We usually hold tokens for the long term. This is how long we hold this token,” tweeted CZ. "We remain transparent about our actions."