Binance Says It Is Not Buying FTX Crypto Exchange

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, said on Wednesday that it has decided not to pursue the acquisition of the FTX crypto exchange.

"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," Binance said on Twitter.

Binance said that the desire to support customers of FTX to provide liquidity was behind the potential acquisition of the crypto exchange but added that "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," Binance said in another tweet.

Yesterday, FTX halted all cryptocurrency withdrawals on the platform. Earlier, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried tweeted that the site had entered into a non-binding agreement to be purchased by Binance.

In the meantime, the price of Bitcoin has plunged below $16,000 per coin for the first time since November 2020, shortly trading at $15,582.82 as of 1:07 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday (22:07 GMT on Wednesday), according to the CoinDesk platform's data.