FTX on Thursday suspended onboarding of new clients as well as withdrawals until further notice as hopes of a rescue for the cryptocurrency exchange fade after rival Binance walked away from a deal to bail out the company.
In a message on its website, the company also asked clients to avoid depositing their funds. It was not immediately clear if FTX US, the company’s US unit that was not part of Binance’s failed buyout, too is included in the latest move. An FTX spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests seeking comments.
Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried has told employees in a internal memo that he was exploring all options to avoid a collapse that analysts have said could trigger a meltdown in the entire crypto industry.
The proposed deal between Bankman-Fried and rival Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao had been the latest emergency rescue in the world of cryptocurrencies this year, as investors pulled out from riskier assets amid rising interest rates. The cryptocurrency market has fallen by about two-thirds from its peak to $1.07 trillion.
Speculation about FTX's financial health that started over the weekend snowballed into $6 billion of withdrawals in the 72 hours before Tuesday morning. Bitcoin revealed a proposal to acquire the rival exchange's non-US assets on Tuesday.
The deal to cover a "liquidity crunch" was non-binding and subject to further due diligence, leading some investors and analysts to question if it would go ahead.
Meanwhile, the world's largest and most popular virtual currency, Bitcoin, slumped 11.1 percent to $16,115.1. Its market value stood at $310.8 billion. The trade volume was at $106.1 billion. The token has fallen to two-year low.
The second largest virtual currency, Ethererum or Ether, slumped 11.9 percent to $1,141 with a market capitalisation of $139.6 billion. The trade volume of Ethereum was $40.1 billion in the last 24 hours.
First Published: Nov 10, 2022 5:42 PM IST
