$1 Binance FTX Deal is Off Unless FTX.US is Part of the Package: Source

The price of the deal: one dollar. But that may be too much for CZ.

article-image
share

Binance will not go ahead with the proposed deal to acquire FTX unless the US-based exchange partner FTX.US is part of the deal, according to a source with knowledge of the matter and text conversations reviewed by Blockworks.

According to the source, the fact that the Federal Trade Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have opened investigations into FTX this morning means that Binance will not consider a deal for FTX’s standalone operations. The price of the deal was originally $1, according to materials seen by Blockworks, but “no one is gonna want to buy billions of dollars of messy debt for $1”.

Legal advisors to the deal are however concerned that US regulators would block any sale of a US entity to Binance, given that Binance has multiple open investigations of its own — including one involving The Department of Justice and the IRS, which opened an investigation into Binance in 2021, and another in which the CFTC was reported to be examining whether Binance users based in the US had access to derivatives trading.

Binance was asked by federal prosecutors in 2020 to hand over communications involving Zhao, as they sought to discover whether the exchange was in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.

And just last week, Reuters reported that Binance helped facilitate close to $8 billion of trades in Iran, possibly in violation of US sanctions.

A second person with knowledge of the matter explained that “100% if they try to sell FTX.US to Binance, regulators will say f**k off.”

Binance released a statement shortly after publication of this story:

“As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com.

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.

Every time a major player in an industry fails, retail consumers will suffer. We have seen over the last several years that the crypto ecosystem is becoming more resilient and we believe in time that outliers that misuse user funds will be weeded out by the free market.

As regulatory frameworks are developed and as the industry continues to evolve toward greater decentralization, the ecosystem will grow stronger.”

Updated 3:59 pm ET Nov 9th 2022 with statement from Binance.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Axiom report graphic.png

Research

Axiom has rapidly become the leading Solana trading bot, capturing over 50% of Solana bot volume and hovering at 3-4% of total Solana memecoin volume just three months post-launch, driven by high user activity and larger average trade sizes.

article-image

Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Bryan Steil called for a “roundtable” discussion in lieu of a formal hearing

article-image

The exchange sees a way to reach gamers through the deal

article-image

The drop gives buyers Adidas outfits for their in-game characters, but the game hasn’t fully released yet

article-image

In 1999, Daniel Bernstein fought for code to be protected, just like free speech

article-image

Sentora aims to create an ecosystem focused on institutional investors’ DeFi needs