While many have been quick to look into FTX and SBF as the source of controversy and rightfully so for the collapse of an exchange and one that was "reputable" at that there are always three sides to a story, one party, the other party's, and the truth. Recently, with everyone laser-focused on FTX I wanted to look at Binance and see what type of impact they had on this and any benefits, influence, or other things that could have come from this move. Again at the end of the day FTX and SBF shoulder the majority if not all the blame for what occurred at his companies that led to this mess but nonetheless here is what I have heard/found.

As most know Binance was an initial investor in FTX when SBF decided to launch the exchange and was a shareholder until they were bought out for roughly $2.1 billion in BUSD and FTX's token FTT. This removed CZ as a shareholder in the traditional sense but still had them heavily involved due to the amount of FTT they received as part of the deal. During the crypto event in Lisbon crypto new source, CoinDesk released reports of FTX's sister company Alameda Research's balance sheet, and this caused the first wave in the market. In a move that might come back to haunt him, regulators are now investigating Binance and CZ CZ announced that Binance would liquidate their FTT tokens in part due to the report.

This announcement by CZ caused what any type of news like this would cause. A bank run on FTX as users scrambled to get their funds off it and even in the traditional finance world, this can lead to the biggest and most regulated companies and industry collapsing. In an effort to save his crumbling empire SBF turned to Binance and for give or take 12 hours it sounded like Binance would buy FTX and stave off a collapse. If you were asleep though you honestly might have just slept through the whole thing given how quickly it all transpired. Once it was clear Binance was out CZ started to really get pretty brave in his comments which are going to put him under increased scrutiny of regulators across the world.

Some of them might have not been made to elicit much of a reaction such as how SBF was badmouthing Binance in DC but they definitely did not help him at all. He did not stop there though and has regularly used Twitter, which he help fund the Elon Musk purchase, as a way to communicate and spread his views. He continued to throw stones at people/companies in the space including those that had lost all their funds on FTX which isn't going to win you any fans even if you are right. Even with moves that one could argue are only to help the industry (the Binance Recovery Fund he says he is setting up) there are issues with where he might be getting the money from in the UAE and possibly other Middle Eastern Nations. While he has declined that this is the case it is still something that will raise red flags due to how the UAE is brought up as a place for 3AC and Do Kwan to go and "start over" with a clean slate. That was not what sent everything into hyperdrive though rather it was yesterday when he sent out a tweet that he quickly deleted targeting another competitor in Coinbase along with Grayscale Investments which is owned by Digital Currency Group.

This tweet aimed at both Coinbase and Grayscale's Bitcoin holdings was the boldest of bold one could do. The reason why this was not the smartest comment in my eyes is that with these being two of the only companies publicly traded with this type of exposure to the space they are crazily over-regulated with regulators chomping at the bit to catch them slipping up in some way. What is worse is that it can come across as someone who is trying to destroy all the smaller competitors ie become a monopoly that the West hates and the crypto space most likely will not respond positively to. CZ quickly walked back what he said but at the end of the day, it is something that he has said and will not help him with regulators or crypto people.

Even today he has made news over Binance.US launching a PAC (political action committee) to most likely fill the void of influence that FTX has left. I am sure more is going to come out over the next week and if not it will soon with CZ having been requested to testify before the House Financial Services Committee in December along with various other members of the crypto space to really explain themselves.

No matter what is going on with DeFi I have continued to stack my Bitcoin bag using the Fold App and their debit card. If you have not signed up for the Fold App's debit card yet and would like to earn 20,000 sats just for doing so use my referral link here! FYI if you do not use a referral link when signing up you will not receive the 20,000 sats for signing up for the debit card! 

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