Bitcoin Trading Around $16,500 After Binance Cancels FTX Acquisition

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Bitcoin has slightly recovered after plunging below $16,000 on the heels of the canceled acquisition deal between the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its competitor FTX, trading data showed on Thursday.

As of 06:00 GMT, Bitcoin was trading at $16,670 on Binance and $16,716 on Coinmarketcap, a portal calculating an average price based on data from the 20 largest exchanges. 

On Wednesday evening, Bitcoin fell lower than $16,000 for the first time since November 2020 following Binance's announcement on its website that its acquisition of FTX was not going ahead.

Founder and CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao had tweeted the day before that FTX itself had contacted them asking about acquisition due to a "significant liquidity crunch." To "protect users" Binance signed a non-binding letter of intentions to acquire FTX and cover the liquidity shortage, he tweeted.

On November 6, Binance announced that it would sell its FTT, a FTX issued tokens, amid news of a poor FTX balance. CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried, in turn, stated that FTX kept "audited financials” and media just circulated "unfounded rumors."