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The extent of FTX’s financial woes was revealed in a shareholder presentation on Sept. 11. Binance regional markets head Richard Teng said in an interview that, despite regulatory scrutiny, the company has no parallels to FTX. Meanwhile, Coinbase has refuted a report that it is halting services for Indian customers that was making the rounds on social media.
FTX shareholder presentation reveals exchange’s current state
The extent of FTX’s financial difficulties were laid out in a shareholder presentation that was released on Sept. 11.
According to the presentation, over 2,300 non-customer claims have been filed against FTX, including by Genesis, Celsius and Voyager. Those claims are worth a staggering $65 billion but a large chunk are “assumed to be invalid/redundant.”
FTX has over $7 billion in assets made up of crypto, cash, brokerage investments, real estate and venture portfolio. Of note, the company owns 38 properties in the Bahamas worth a combined $222 million.
Preference Exposure in FTX presentation
Methodology
Withdrawals: Valued at current pricing (31st Aug)
Deposits: Transaction timeOwed to FTX estate
15-Day: $11.2bn (intl) + $2.2bn (US)
90-Day: $21.4 (intl)+$3.6bn (US) pic.twitter.com/wlsAr8MP6C— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) September 11, 2023
It was reported that FTX may claw back $86.6 million in political and charitable donations and $190.3 million through potentail actions against vendors.
Lawyers of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have requested a pre-trial release due to a lack of adequate internet in federal prison. Bankman-Fried’s bail was revoked on Aug. 11 after he was found trying to contact and intimidate former FTX employees in the ongoing lawsuit against him.
Binance’s Richard Teng denies FTX comparisons: ‘We welcome the scrutiny’
Binance regional markets head Richard Teng insists that the global cryptocurrency exchange is financially secure and in no way similar to bankrupt peer FTX despite recent regulatory scrutiny and regional challenges.Speaking exclusively to Magazine editor Andrew Fenton in Singapore ahead of the 2023 Token2049 conference, Teng addressed a variety of different challenges being faced by Binance’s regional arms as well as playing down reports that he is being groomed to take the reigns from founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in the future.
Teng said that, while Binance has faced different issues over the past couple of years, it has managed to tackle these on a case-by-case basis while remaining financially strong and able to process customer withdrawals.
Commenting on a recent social media post from CZ that highlighted “negative news/rumors, bank runs, lawsuits, closing of fiat channels, product wind downs, employee turnover,” Teng said that comparisons to the failure of FTX were unjustified:
“There were different rumors and FUD after FTX. People tried to associate us, which is totally untrue. Our assets are backed one-to-one.”
He also addressed recent Cointelegraph exclusives that revealed high-level executives had departed Binance as well as another report on the company’s ties with Russian banks. Teng said that the exchange’s stellar growth in the space of six years continues to leave it in the spotlight.
“All this scrutiny will come from being the largest — scrutiny from regulators, scrutiny from the media — and we welcome the scrutiny.”
Teng said that Binance has not yet made a decision regarding its franchise that serves the Russian market while maintaining that the company continues to adhere to international norms and standards in regards to sanctioned entities and individuals:
“On our plans for Russia, we have stated very clearly in the last couple of weeks that all options are on the table. We continue to explore what we need to do for that particular franchise going forward.”
Meanwhile, maturing regulatory frameworks in various jurisdictions are also being welcomed by the global exchange. Teng said that the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation could benefit exchanges universally by creating standardized rules for the industry:
“This disparate treatment, it makes life very difficult for global platforms like for ourselves. In terms of local deployment, we need to understand how the rules and regulations are very different. So, what we hope for is harmonized standards.”
Teng said that MiCA was a “step in the right direction” in providing the 23 EU member states with a consistent set of standards, which in turn could lead to a wider convergence of global regulatory guidelines for the industry.
Coinbase denies s ceasing services in India
Coinbase has issued a clarification after a circulating report suggested that it would soon halt all operations for its Indian customers.
According to a Sept. 11 report from TechCrunch, Coinbase India users were reportedly warned via email that all services would be discontinued by Sept. 25, and were urged to to remove any funds that remained on the exchange.
As reported by Cointelegraph, the notice was not targeted at all Indian customers, but rather those who violated the exchange’s standards. https://t.co/IiyMAcz7rl
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 11, 2023
However, it is understood that the notice was not aimed at all Indian customers and was instead aimed at those breaching the exchange’s standards.
“We are reaching out to inform you that we will be discontinuing all Coinbase Retail services linked to your above-mentioned account, as we will be disabling access for the retail accounts that no longer meet our updated standards for these services,” according to an email on Sept. 8 — shared by a Coinbase spokesperson to Cointelegraph.
In a statement, the spokesperson reiterated that the email was only sent to some account holders who they deemed as breaching their “updated standards.”
The original report from TechCrunch has been widely shared on social media, being picked up by a number of prominent accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter) including Wu Blockchain.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
