Binance’s Zhao Says No ‘Master Plan’ for Takeover of FTX
Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said in a memo to employees that there wasn’t a “master plan” to take over FTX.com and the collapse of the rival crypto exchange “is not good for anyone in the industry.”
Zhao stunned the crypto world on Tuesday with an announcement that his firm was moving to take over Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.com, which suffered a liquidity crunch after Zhao announced that he was selling a $530 million holding of FTX’s native token. The letter of intent signed is a non-binding agreement. Terms haven’t been disclosed.
Changpeng Zhao
“It was less than 24 hrs ago that SBF called me. And before that, I had very little knowledge of the internal state of things at FTX,” Zhao wrote in the memo sent Wednesday, which was obtained by Bloomberg News. “I was surprised when he wanted to talk. My first reaction was, he wants to do an OTC deal… But here we are.”
Zhao noted that “due diligence for the deal is on-going,” and reminded employees not to trade the FTT token. He also told employees not to comment on the transaction.
“Do not view it as a ‘win for us’,” Zhao said. “User confidence is severely shaken. Regulators will scrutinize exchanges even more. Licenses around the globe will be harder to get. And people now think we are the biggest and will attack us more.”
Changpeng Zhao 
