This Friday (9), two major American newspapers published conversations by the cryptocurrency elite about the fall of FTX. In the group were names like Paolo Ardoino of Tether, Justin Sun of Tron and Jesse Powell of Kraken. However, the leaked messages focused on the positioning of the two biggest players involved in this story, Changpeng Zhao from Binance and, of course, Sam Bankman-Fried from FTX. As a highlight, Zhao appears giving advice to Bankman-Fried, warning that he will need to pay for his actions.
“Stop now, do no more damage. The more damage you do now, the more prison time.”
Who’s the tough finger of the group?
This elite group is located on Signal, a messaging application famous for its security. Therefore, one of these billionaires leaked the conversations to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, which immediately reported the case. According to speculation from The Verge, Sam Bankman-Fried himself may have released the messages. After all, the founder of FTX seems to have a big heartache with Changpeng Zhao after he pulled out of buying his brokerage. Furthermore, he doesn’t seem concerned about following any advice from his lawyers, speaking a lot of rubbish since the fall of his empire. Zhao may also have leaked the messages. Also on Friday (9), the executive said that SBF offended several members of Binance, as well as made threats. “We still have those text messages”, wrote CZ. Meanwhile, Jesse Powell of Kraken called the fake news articles, not only stating that he is not present in such a group, but also doubting the veracity of the information presented.
“Fake news. I doubt this chat ever happened. I certainly wasn’t in the room. Probably someone trolling the mainstream media. The Tether story doesn’t even make sense. The story here is that the WSJ and NYT were easily tricked into writing a made up story about nothing.”
However, it’s worth noting that the WSJ attempted to contact a Kraken spokesperson on the date, but received no response. The same happened when trying to contact Binance.
Zhao accuses Bankman-Fried of trying to take down Tether
As a highlight of the talks, which took place on November 10, Changpeng Zhao accuses Sam Bankman-Fried of trying to overthrow the largest stablecoin on the market, Tether (USDT).
“Stop trying to unpeg stablecoins. And stop doing anything. Stop now, do no more damage,” writes Binance CEO to Bankman-Fried. “The more damage you do now, the more prison time.”
Afterwards, the founder of FTX questions Zhao’s accusations, noting that a sale of US$ 250,000 (R$ 1 million) would not be able to move the market.
“Are you stating that you think a $250,000 USDT trade would unpeg [o valor do USDT ao dólar]🇧🇷 asks SBF.
“My sincere advice: stop doing everything. Put on a suit, go back to DC and start answering the questions.”says Zhao to Bankman-Fried.
“Thank you for the advice!” replies, SBF, repeating the previous question. “Did you try to accuse me of trying to unpeg a stablecoin by doing a $250,000 trade?”
We have to agree with Sam Bankman-Fried, a sale of this size is negligible for Tether’s liquidity. However, it is strange that the founder of FTX was trading such values the day before his brokerage declared bankruptcy. With his company mentioned, Tether’s CTO joined the conversation to reiterate its financial health. “Just to be clear, we will redeem any amount of money that comes to us. We are solid”pointed out Paolo Ardoino.
What do those involved in the leaked conversation say?
As mentioned above, Kraken did not respond to the contact attempt by American newspapers, but its founder classified the conversations among the cryptocurrency elite as false. A spokesperson for Binance stated that it would be inappropriate for the exchange to comment on the matter. Meanwhile, a Tether spokeswoman stated that the company “demonstrated its resilience to attacks” and that FTX shares “do not reflect the ethos and commitment of the entire industry”🇧🇷 The only one who seems to have paid any attention to the leaked messages is FTX’s Bankman-Fried. In a statement, the former billionaire called Changpeng Zhao’s accusations “absurd”giving a whole paragraph to newspapers.
“Trading of this size would not have a material impact on Tether prices and to my knowledge neither I nor Alameda have ever intentionally attempted to unpeg Tether or any other stablecoin. I made a lot of mistakes last year, but this is not one of them.”
