IT'S OVER: Binance to Acquire FTX ?

All right, guys, this is utterly insane. I think we have just experienced one of the biggest events in crypto exchange history. Binance Exchange, the biggest exchange in the world, just bought their rival FTX. And it's just not a usual acquisition. This is a chokehold. This is fighting your competitor until your competitor actually asks for your help. That's how crazy and insane this is. I mean, this just came in right now. So CZ tweeted this out and said, this afternoon FTX asked for our help. And to help with their help, Binance is essentially intending to fully acquire FTX.com. This is going to allay a lot of concerns because prior to this event, a lot of people were afraid that they couldn't get their withdrawals from FTX Exchange, that there were some serious problems there. But it seems to be that Binance is coming in as a white knight now to help their rival by just buying them flat out. So in this video, what we're going to do is we're going to cover the event itself. My mind is still blowing up right now. This is still sinking in. But at the same time, we're going to talk about some implications for crypto overall as well. Because obviously the exchange competition landscape is just flattened now. But also because Sam is super heavily involved in a lot of different cryptocurrency projects, he's invested a lot. He's also started a lot too. I mean, obviously he's very big in Solana, FTT, of course, Serum. There's going to be ripple effects throughout the entire industry. So we're going to cover some of that here in this video. And obviously, of course, if you guys appreciate content like this, I really appreciate if you leave a comment down below about what you think. Because I actually want to gather some opinions today. And of course, I do want to, if you can help the channel as well, if you like the video, that would be very helpful. So let's get into it. Now I just have to bring this meme up because like, ah, this is, I didn't create this, but this was sent to me. Saying, Bankman free warrants of some crypto exchanges already secretly insolvent. And then, laws, it's mine. Oh my God. This is so many layers of meaning now that we know these things. So what's exactly happening? So CZ tweeted this around an hour ago as of making of this video. He said, this afternoon, FTX asked for help. This is, there is a significant liquidity crunch. To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI. So that's a letter of intent. Intending to fully acquire FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days. So this is really an intent to acquire FTX. It's still not done yet. They're still going to do the due diligence. But at the same time, of course, you can see that Sam has also tweeted out a similar comment as well. Obviously for him, he's phrasing it a little bit differently. He doesn't want to show that he's losing. But, you know, we all know what's happening here. But let's say Sam is saying, hey, I have a few announcements to make. Things have come for a circle. FTX is first. And last, investors are the same. We have come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com pending DD, etc. So, yeah, I mean, depending on how you phrase it, I mean, CZ is going to call this an acquisition. Sam is going to call this a transaction. But they mean the same thing. Binance is very much acquiring FTX.com. Obviously, there's a lot of concerns over withdrawals because what's led to this, like what caused this in the first place, is that people were unable to withdraw from the FTX exchange. I mean, over the past almost 72 hours, more than $800 million of stablecoins have just left the FTX exchange. People were withdrawing like crazy because they were fearing that this is almost like a Celsius event. They were fearing that this was going to be a collapse and people won't be able to withdraw. So there was so much fear going on. People were mass panicking withdrawing funds. And withdrawals stopped for a while. So at that point, it's very clear that Sam ran out of liquid cash to facilitate these withdrawals. And it might be very well in the case that it was not a very small amount. I think we can probably assume that by now. Because if it was a small amount, I think Sam could have approached other investors to cover maybe $100, $200 million. But if it's upwards of the billions of dollars, they probably knew they can only approach Binance for that amount of money. So yeah, I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's northwards of $1 or $2 billion at this current point. So CZ has tentatively signed a non-binding agreement to acquire them. He also hinted, this is actually quite interesting as well, if you actually look at the tweet itself. It's constructed in such a smart way. He says, stay safe. And if you guys know, safe is Binance's kind of acronym for their safety fund to protect user funds. He didn't say funds are safe, which is his classic quote. You know, that's this like, if there were any funds on Binance that were at risk, he'll always say, funds are safe. But in this case, he says, stay safe, implying that he's, you know, he's giving a wink. You know, he's like, okay, I can't really wink right now. It's very late for me. But it's like, wink, wink. Funds, he's doing something to protect user funds at this current point. But also, no guarantees, right? He's not saying funds are safe. Stay safe. He's also interesting. He's also being a little bit elusive about the situation with FTT token, which is a native token for the FTX exchange. He says, we expect it to be highly volatile in the coming days as things develop. I think this is just so perfectly drafted at this current point. But at the end of the day, you know, what has happened has happened. Binance has basically acquired their rival. And in the most, I guess, most aggressive way, like it's a very aggressive way to kind of force your opponent into submission. Because kind of Binance started this whole event by creating a bunch of uncertain tweets, a bunch of attacks on the FTX exchange, which caused us in the first place. So Binance essentially put Sam into a chokehold and Sam submitted to it. So, you know, never a dull day in crypto. And the crazy part of this is that it happened in three days. Now, let's take a look at what happened and the events leading up to this. Because I think this is super interesting. And it really goes to show how much strategy there was at play in this. This was not an easy acquisition by any means. So let's go back to the start and look at the research. So we have an article here on BoxMoney.com about what's happening with the war with FTX. And there's kind of an order of events. And we'll just follow this in kind of chronological order and figure out things out. So let's first, let's just talk about Alameda Research first, because that's kind of the sister company to FTX. It's kind of how Sam started in the first place by creating Alameda Research, which was a fund that invested into various projects, including projects like Solana and Serum. And there was accusations that Alameda wasn't doing very well. Now, shots were really fired on November the 6th. So this was when CZ came out and said they were going to sell $2.1 billion equivalent of cash, BUSD, and also FTT coins that Binance was holding. You have to remember that Binance were one of the first investors in FTX. They were one of the first ones. They kind of helped incubate this in the first place, but they had a falling out. But because they were one of the first investors, they still had tokens and money from that investment. So by being able to dump a huge amount of FTT, it caused a huge amount of fear in this community. Now, things got super heated when CZ put FTT in the same sentence as Luna, because Luna collapsed. So this is super high IQ, because obviously everyone picked it up. I saw my WhatsApp being flooded by, oh my god, CZ just put them in the same sentence, kind of implying something, but not implying it outright. But people got the message. People got the message that FTT was in trouble. And you can also see this follow the collapse of FTT as well. Just over the past seven days, it dumped from $22 to what is now essentially $9. So this had a catastrophic effect on FTX's native token. And of course, it had a catastrophic attack on the people who are holding funds on FTX. There was a huge movement of funds out. Over $800 million of funds were being moved. And people were tracking that aggressively on Twitter over the past 24 hours. So that was kind of the events, the cascading group of events that led up to this. We see CZ being extremely aggressive here, you know, outrightly telling people that he was going to sell FTT on the market. Now, the crazy part here is that if we look at it with hindsight, right, you can sense that there was tension, there was aggression. But at the same time, it was... How do I put it? It was so carefully phrased that you can't really fault him for anything at all. Like, that's the craziest part about this whole event. Like, if you think about it in retrospect, like, this was part of his plan, right? Like, very likely, he knew what was happening with these recent relevations. And he knew when to strike. Like, but he struck in such a smart way. Like, I have to give CZ credit for that. Like, to be able to have a fight with Sam. But at the same time, know that he can cause so much damage to win out this war. Anyways, my mind is just blown at, you know, I have to clap at that. You know, can you say that he was evil? I don't think so. I actually think that, you know, like, he played his cards, right? He destroyed a competitor. But at the same time, you know, he also covered for the funds that... Or he's potentially going to cover for the funds that are missing in FTX's books or to pay out and protect consumers. So, I mean, you can't fault him for that either, right? Right? So, that's the insanity of this whole play. It's really some Game of Thrones stuff. I really think that. Like, it was so perfect. And at the end of the day, this prevents these two exchanges from fighting each other. Right? Like, imagine how much money they will have to throw in to win over retail at this current point. And, you know, by combining their forces, they can tackle regulation easier. So, now, obviously, of course, the other implication here is on a lot of cryptocurrencies that Sam invested in or he's part of. So, first and foremost, of course, is FTT. I mean, FTT is dumping heavily even as we speak right now. And that's because Binance already has its native token. So, now that Esquire FTX exchange, you know, the certainty of FTT is no longer there. Like, Binance doesn't need a second, you know, exchange token at this current point. Right? So, there's a bit of uncertainty. Well, quite a lot of uncertainty there. And CZ hinted at that already. And he was very strategic in saying, you know, it's going to be volatile. Right? We also have a little bit of uncertainty affecting Solana as well. Because you see that Sam was heavily supporting Solana. And it's kind of their kind of queen or blockchain of choice when it comes to development. Right? So, yeah. Yet again, like, I see because Binance has taken over, there could be two possibilities, actually. So, obviously, CZ will not support Solana, right? As aggressively as Sam did. But will Sam, now that he is more free, has more free time, will he take over and help with Solana and Serum? Who knows? Right? That's where the volatility comes in. That's where there's still a lot of uncertainty in the market. Like, I mean, if Sam chooses to say, yeah, you know what, I'm going to focus full time on Project Serum, it could move both these coins up. But at the same time, who knows what's going to happen, right? It's still uncertain. And this acquisition is not certain yet, too. So, that's a lot up in flames. A lot of uncertainty going on there. So, I think we shall see. Now, obviously, the market's also not in a perfect shape. I would just address right now that, you know, we are in a bear market. And for these events to happen during a bear market, that's always going to be quite scary. Especially with Bitcoin right now. Like, we kind of reached one of our support points. And we kind of broke through that relatively quickly. So, yeah, that doesn't... Like, I'm going to say it plainly to you. That doesn't bode well. We'll have to wait until a few major more, a few major events happen this week. Namely, what's happening with the elections. What's happening with the interest rates. I'm sorry, my mind is blanking out. It's actually 2 a.m. here. So, yeah, there's still a lot of uncertainty coming this week. Big, big events coming up this week. And, of course, TradFi is in a big mess right now. So, all these factors is leading up to what I'm personally thinking may be a 2-3 year bear market for crypto. That's... You know, we've survived bear markets before. And I'm kind of taking my mini break right now at this point of time. For me, I would just define a break very quickly as well. I've been a lot slower in releasing content. That's just to speak personally because I'm kind of like traumatized for making so many videos over the past few years. But in terms of crypto, nothing here has changed my outlook. Maybe I'm going to reconsider a few things about what's happening with my trading habits. Because I was actually using FTX quite a bit. But, yeah, nothing really happened. My hodl bag, my big hodl bag has remained untouched. But, yeah, I don't think this changes too much in the strategy. But I will follow it up in the next few days. Because I think there's a lot more changes to come. And we're seeing, you know, massive dumps right now on the cryptocurrency front. So, I do expect a lot of volatility. If you actually think about it, yeah, that's... This peak is crazy because people don't know how to respond right now. And there's never a dull day in crypto. So, anyways, guys, thank you guys so much for watching this video. I hope it was helpful to give you guys a little bit of insight into what happened. And the uncertainties affecting coins ahead. I'd love to know what your comments are. I mean, this is ridiculous. What your reactions are. Leave them in the comment section down below. Sorry, that's not COVID. It's just me talking too much. But, anyways, see you next video. Peace.