Following a liquidity crisis and a potential takeover by rival Binance, the websites for Alameda Research and the company’s venture capital arm, FTX Ventures, were taken down and made private on Nov. 9.
Alameda website disables public access
Just hours after assuring clients that their “assets are fine,” FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, disclosed the liquidity crisis on Nov. 8.
The crisis erupted after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, revealed Binance’s decision to liquidate its stake of 23 million FTX Token (FTT) for risk management reasons. The announcement caused a sell-off in FTT, which was trading at $3.00 at the time of writing, representing an 87.11% drop in seven days.
In turmoil
FTX stockholders reportedly learned about the arrangement Nov. 8 via Twitter. In his letter to the exchange’s investors, SBF apologized for being “hard to contact” in recent days and said he has no idea what the arrangement with Binance implies.
He reportedly ended the letter by saying he will be “quite swamped” in the following days and will write again “when I have time to.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources, Binance is conducting due diligence and may decide to walk away from the deal after evaluating the company’s structure and books.