Binance agrees deal to buy FTX's non-U.S. operations

By Geoffrey Smith

Investing.com -- Binance has agreed in principle to buy the non-U.S. operations of cryptocurrency platform FTX, founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said Tuesday.

The news caps a mind-bending series of twists and turns over the last week, which came to a head when Binance - one of FTX's original backers - triggered a run on FTX's deposit base by pulling its own funds.

"This afternoon, FTX asked for our help," Zhao tweeted, a couple of hours after FTX had reoportedly been forced to suspend client withdrawals, sparking fears of a repeat of Celsius Network's collapse earlier in the year.

"There is a significant liquidity crunch," Zhao added,. "To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI (letter of intent), intending to fully acquire http://FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch."

He added that the acquisition will be subject to "a full" due diligence process.

Bankman-Fried confirmed agreement of "a strategic transaction" at the same time via Twitter, but omitted to mention anything about FTX.com being bought.

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