Live data from Hacker News

Binance to acquire FTX

bloomberg.com

171–180 of 790 posts

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#171
post #16

SBF said "We don't invest client assets (even in treasuries)". [0] He then says the purpose of the transaction with Binance is to "clear out the liquidity crunches". [1] How could there be a liquidity crunch if assets are not invested? You can't do a bank run on an entity that doesn't function as a bank and doesn't invest clients assets... Something is shifty. [0] https://twitter.com/sbf_ftx/status/158959828579870720…

Are you seriously asking? He lied like every other exchange does. The man's middle name is Bankman for god's sake.

And he's Fried now.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#172

Why is it apparently so difficult to run a solvent crypto exchange? On the face, it shouldn't be too hard, just take deposits, stick them in a wallet, and swap client balances in a database. Is the temptation to maintain a reserve ratio < 1 just too great? Do operators try to earn small, low-risk return on client funds only to find there are no low-risk, positive-return assets in crypto? Are the extending margin to c…

Probably the insolvent exchanges are able to offer lower costs and better promotions to users. For instance Coinbase has always charged way higher fees than FTX for simple buying and selling of coins.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving them the benefit of doubt, this is not a contradiction. The statement means that they have enough illiquid assets to cover the withdrawal that they are working on converting into liquidity.

FTX/Alameda holds tons of illiquid FTT tokens that they cannot sell and which Binance was dumping. Thus, they might have not technically lied. But they were still wrong from the accounting perspective - they surely understood that FTT token cannot be used to cover gaps in large scale. It was the question that matters "how fast you can process user withdrawals and with what risk" Sam owns 8% of Robin Hood that is wort…

> Sam owns 8% of Robin Hood that is worth around ~$1B - he could sell that and cover some of the gap.

Not knowing too much about this space have you ever seen anything like this happen? A CEO using their personal wealth to cover their customers funds seems unlikely.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#175

September's cover of Fortune was quite the jinx https://content.fortune.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/COV.W...

Looks like it was the "Or crash and burn" from the cover. Bad move on his part.

I was wondering why he was throwing rescue tubes to silly projects. It seemed like he had too much money.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#177
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CZ said it’s dumping all their tokens from Binance… FTX starts to fail… CZ snaps it up for a song

I heard that as well, but how did FTX put themselves in a position where that can happen? Leveraging up in your own token?

apparently they were playing VC with user deposits.

This is why regulations exist.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#178
post #16

SBF said "We don't invest client assets (even in treasuries)". [0] He then says the purpose of the transaction with Binance is to "clear out the liquidity crunches". [1] How could there be a liquidity crunch if assets are not invested? You can't do a bank run on an entity that doesn't function as a bank and doesn't invest clients assets... Something is shifty. [0] https://twitter.com/sbf_ftx/status/158959828579870720…

You mean the guy who said he named his other co "Alameda Research" so it wouldn't sound like a bank, even though it basically is, might be shifty?

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#179
From Twitch, interview with Wintermute CEO (another big crypto MM) - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1647004406?t=1h39m38s - had no idea this coming either (who got hacked for $100m recently).

Later in the video Martin Shkreli tells Do Kwon that prison isn't so bad.

Interesting interview.

Re: Binance to acquire FTX

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing decentralized about FTX or Binance. They operate in an opaque manner like any traditional business, transparency comes from forced audits & regulation. Decentralized finance is built on chain where all assets are publicly auditable at all times. EDIT: parent comment talked about decentralized finance, then edited to remove mentions of defi

Even without the edit, your response feels like a no-true-scotsman i.e. an attempt to remove bad actors who deal in decentralized cryptocurrencies from the purity that is defi. What are some large, successful defi organizations today?

Tornado Cash is pretty successful.
Post reply on HN