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The websites were either taken down or made private just one day after it was made public that Binance had signed a letter of intent to purchase its cash-strapped rival exchange.
Two websites linked to the Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX have gone dark after the latter’s liquidity issue and the subsequent announcement that it plans to be acquired by rival exchange Binance.
Since Tuesday, the websites for FTX Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm, and Alameda Research, the quantitative trading firm founded by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, have both been taken down or made private.Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison has not made any public comments on the issue facing FTX and has neglected to respond to a recent CoinDesk story that indicated a significant amount of Alameda’s assets were made up of FTX’s native FTT token, the value of which fell by 80% on Tuesday.
The websites went dark shortly after reports surfaced that US authorities were investigating into companies in the Bankman-Fried conglomerate. According to Bloomberg, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are investigating those firms in relation to the liquidity problem with crypto loans. Despite the investigation’s months-old inception, it appears to have recently intensified as a result of authorities’ inquiries into the ownership structure of FTX.US and FTX.com. Regulators are looking at the kind of investors each company has, their financial relationships, if user accounts are segregated, and whether there is leadership overlap. It’s not clear if today’s site removals were brought on by recent inquiries into that inquiry. However, given the history of turmoil surrounding the partnership between Alameda Research and FTX Ventures, it’s probable that organisational and regulatory issues are at play.
On the other hand, more significant financial issues could have led to the site takedowns. It was claimed at the beginning of November that Alameda Research was “completely illiquid.” The week has been spent talking about FTX’s financial issues, which began on Monday.
Nevertheless, it was revealed this afternoon that Binance would back out of the planned sale following claims that the business mishandled customer payments and after learning more about the state of its finances. A last-minute buyout deal from Binance appeared to be the only thing keeping the firm alive for the time being.
