Binance announced Wednesday that it would no longer pursue an acquisition of FTX, leaving the crypto empire of Sam Bankman-Fried on the brink of collapse.
The decision to reverse course came just one day after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao confirmed that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange had managed to reach a non-binding agreement to buy all of FTX’s overseas operations for an undisclosed sum, thus saving the company from a liquidity crunch. Private investors placed a $32 billion valuation on FTX earlier this year. In a Twitter statement, Binance said:
"In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help."
Binance issued a statement saying it was backing out of the deal after discovering “mishandled customer funds” during its audit of FTX’s books and hearing that FTX would be investigated by U.S….
