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The logo of Crypto.com is seen at a stand during the Bitcoin Conference 2022 in Miami Beach, Florida, April 6, 2022.

Marco Bello | Reuters

As the crypto universe reckons with the fallout of FTX’s rapid collapse last week and tries to figure out where the contagion may head next, questions have been swirling around Crypto.com, a rival exchange that’s taken a similarly flashy approach to marketing and celebrity endorsements.

Like FTX, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, Crypto.com is privately held, based outside the U.S. and offers a range of products for buying, selling, trading and storing crypto. The company is headquartered in Singapore, and CEO Kris Marszalek is based in Hong Kong.

Crypto.com is smaller than FTX but still ranks among the top 15 global exchanges, according to CoinGecko. FTX spooked the market not just by its speedy downfall but also because the company was unable to honor withdrawal requests, to the tune of billions of dollars, from users who wanted to retrieve their funds during the run on the firm. When it became clear that FTX didn’t have the liquidity necessary to give users their money, concern mounted that rivals may be next.

Twitter lit up over the weekend with speculation that Crypto.com was facing problems, and crypto experts held Twitter Spaces sessions to discuss the matter. Meanwhile, revelations landed on Sunday that, in October, Crypto.com mistakenly sent more than 80% of its ether holdings, or about $400 million worth of the cryptocurrency, to Gate.io, another crypto exchange. It was only after the transaction was exposed through public blockchain data that Marszalek acknowledged the mishap.

Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, speaking at a 2018 Bloomberg event in Hong Kong, China.

Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of rival exchange Binance, fanned the flames of speculation, tweeting on Sunday that if an exchange has to move large amounts of crypto before or after it demonstrates the wallet addresses, “it is a clear sign of problems.” He added, “Stay away.”

Confidence is clearly shaken. Crypto.com’s native Cronos (CRO) token has dropped nearly 40% in the last week. The crumbling of FTX’s FTT token was one sign of the crisis that company faced.

“I would just get your money out of Crypto .com now,” said Adam Cochran, an investor in blockchain projects and founder of Cinneamhain Ventures, in a tweet over the weekend. “If they are full reserves they shouldn’t care if you sit on the sidelines for a week, but their handling of this hasn’t met the bar.”

Marszalek has spent the early part of the week trying to reassure users and regulators that the business is fine. On Monday, he said on YouTube that the company had a “tremendously strong balance sheet” and that it’s “business as usual” with deposits, withdrawals and trading activity. He followed up with a tweet Monday evening, indicating that “the withdrawal queue is down 98% within the last 24 hours.”

He spoke to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday morning, answering questions about the state of his company, the market and how he’s differently positioned than FTX. He said in the interview that the company has engaged with over 10 regulators about the “shocking events” surrounding FTX and how to keep them from happening again.

“I understand that right now in the market, you’ve got a situation where everyone is done taking people’s word for anything,” Marszalek said. “We focused on demonstrating our strength and stability through our actions.”

Marszalek acknowledged that Crypto.com, like other exchanges, has faced increased withdrawals since the FTX news broke, but he said his platform has since stabilized.

A familiar refrain

The exterior of Crypto.com Arena on January 26, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Rich Fury | Getty Images

There are other similarities, too.

Just as FTX signed a massive deal last year with the NBA’s Miami Heat for naming rights to the team’s arena, Crypto.com agreed to pay $700 million last November to put its name and logo on the arena that hosts the Los Angeles Lakers, among other teams in L.A. FTX had Tom Brady and Steph Curry promoting its products. Crypto.com reeled in Matt Damon as a pitchman. Both companies bought Super Bowl ads and partnered with Formula One.

Marszalek has personal issues from his past that may also be concerning. The Daily Beast reported in November 2021 that Marszalek departed his last job “amid accusations from customers and business partners that they had been ripped off.” The Australian company was called Ensogo, and it offered online coupons. It abruptly shut down in 2016.

According to documents filed with the Australian Securities Exchange, Ensogo requested its stock be suspended from trading in June 2016. The board accepted Marszalek’s resignation at that time and the company said in a filing that it “is yet to announce the appointment of a new CEO.”

A spokesperson for Crypto.com told the Daily Beast that the board decided to shutter Ensogo, and “there was never a finding of wrongdoing under Kris’s leadership.”

How many coins?

Then there are Crypto.com’s books.

Last week, Crypto.com released unaudited information about its assets to blockhain analytics firm Nansen, who used the information to create a chart showing where those assets were held. One startling revelation: Crypto.com had 20% of its assets in wallets in shiba inu, a so-called “meme token” that exists purely for speculation, building off the shiba-inu dog image of the similarly popular joke token, dogecoin.

Marszalek said on Monday that this was just a reflection of the assets Crypto.com customers were buying. He said in a tweet that it was a popular purchase in 2021, along with dogecoin.

When asked by CNBC on Tuesday if Crypto.com holds tokens on its balance sheet, Marszalek said it’s a “very conservatively run business” that holds “mostly fiat and stablecoins as our source of capital.”

“Yeah but how much?” asked CNBC’s Becky Quick, reminding Marszalek that FTX had “billions of dollars” in its self-created FTT token before it declared bankruptcy.

Marszalek declined to say.

“We’re a privately held company,” he said, adding that he’s not going to provide specifics “about our balance sheet.”

He was quick to say that the company is “very well capitalized,” and reiterated comments from his YouTube session on Monday, telling CNBC that the company has “a very strong balance sheet” with “zero debt and zero leverage in the business, and we are cash flow positive.”

The company has already been hammered during the crypto winter, which has pushed bitcoin and ether down by two-thirds this year. In recent months, Crypto.com reportedly slashed over one-quarter of its workforce. Daily trading volume in CRO is down to about $365 million, according to data from Nomics. Last year, that figure was above $4 billion.

Marszalek’s main goal now is evident: avoid an FTX-type run that could see the company lose a boatload of customers. But he also wants to make it abundantly clear that all the reserves are available to honor any withdrawal requests, and that there’s no hedge fund activity taking place with user deposits.

“We run a very simple business,” he said. “We give 70 million users globally access to digital currencies and take a fee for that.”

Coinbase and Binance have similarly been on media tours trying to assuage customer concerns.

FTX saga means people will increasingly hold their own crypto, says Blockchain.com CEO

Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith expects the whole way that crypto enthusiasts hold their investments to change dramatically. Smith, whose company operates an exchange and offers a crypto wallet, told CNBC last week that consumers don’t need to trust third parties to hold their crypto funds, and are increasingly doing it themselves.

“You’re going to see people shift toward crypto on their own private keys,” Smith said, adding that the company has about 85 million users who already do it that way. “The ultimate reality and coolest part of crypto is you can store your funds on your own private key where you have no counterparty exposure.”

From a governance standpoint, FTX was uniquely troubled. The company had no board, no finance chief and no head of compliance, despite raising billions of dollars, some from top firms like Sequoia and Tiger Global, and racing to a $32 billion valuation.

Marszalek has a more traditional corporate structure. Crypto.com has a four-person advisory board as well as a CFO, a head of legal and a senior vice president of risk and operations. That doesn’t mean there can’t be fraud (see: Theranos) or bad behavior (read: WeWork), but it’s at least a sign that some controls are in place as Crypto.com and other players try to weather a crypto winter that keeps getting colder.

“We feel quite good about where we are as a company and our operations,” said Marszalek, pointing out that the company generated over $1 billion in revenue last year and has topped that number this year. “What worries me is the impact of this collapse on the whole industry. It sets us back a good couple of years in terms of the industry’s reputation.”

WATCH: CNBC’s full interview with Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek

Watch CNBC's full interview with Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek

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De minimis trade loophole that boosted Chinese online retailers to end May 2

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De minimis trade loophole that boosted Chinese online retailers to end May 2

A driver for an independent contractor to FedEx delivers packages on Cyber Monday in New York, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023.

Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order shutting the de minimis trade loophole, effective May 2.

Trump in February abruptly ended the de minimis trade exemption, which allows shipments worth less than $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free. The order overwhelmed U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees and caused the U.S. Postal Service to temporarily halt packages from China and Hong Kong. Within days of its announcement, Trump reversed course and delayed the cancellation of the provision.

Wednesday’s announcement, which came alongside a set of sweeping new tariffs, gives customs officials, retailers and logistics companies more time to prepare. Goods that qualify under the de minimis exemption will be subject to a duty of either 30% of their value, or $25 per item. That rate will increase to $50 per item on June 1, the White House said.

Use of the de minimis provision has exploded in recent years as shoppers flock to Chinese e-commerce companies Temu and Shein, which offer ultra-low cost apparel, electronics and other items. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said it processed more than 1.3 billion de minimis shipments in 2024, up from over 1 billion shipments in 2023.

Critics of the provision say it provides an unfair advantage to Chinese e-commerce companies and creates an influx of packages that are “subject to minimal documentation and inspection,” raising concerns around counterfeit and unsafe goods.

The Trump administration has sought to close the loophole over concerns that it facilitates shipments of fentanyl and other illicit substances on the claims that the packages are less likely to be inspected by customs agents.

Temu and Shein have taken steps to grow their operations in the U.S. as the de minimis loophole has come under greater scrutiny. After onboarding sellers with inventory in U.S. warehouses, Temu recently began steering shoppers to those items on its website, allowing it to speed up deliveries. Shein opened distribution centers in states including Illinois and California in 2022, and a supply chain hub in Seattle last year.

WATCH: President Trump signs executive orders for reciprocal tariffs

Pres. Trump signs executive orders for reciprocal tariffs

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Apple leads a drop in tech stocks after Trump tariff announcement

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 Apple leads a drop in tech stocks after Trump tariff announcement

Apple CEO Tim Cook, center, watches during the inauguration ceremonies for President Donald Trump, right, and Vice President JD Vance, left, in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025.

Shawn Thew | Afp | Getty Images

Apple slid more than 6% in late trading Wednesday and led a broader decline in tech stocks after President Donald Trump announced new tariffs of between 10% and 49% on imported goods.

The majority of Apple’s revenue comes from devices manufactured primarily in China and a handful of other Asian countries. Nvidia, which manufactures new chips in Taiwan and assembles its artificial intelligence systems in Mexico and elsewhere, fell about 4%, while electric vehicle company Tesla dropped 4.5%.

Across the rest of the megacap universe, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta all dropped between 2.5% and 5%, and Microsoft was down by almost 2%.

If Apple’s postmarket loss is matched in regular trading Thursday, it would be the steepest decline for the stock since September 2020.

Trump on Wednesday afternoon said the new taxes on imported goods would be a “declaration of economic independence” for the country. He announced a 10% blanket tariff on all imports, and higher duties for specific countries, including 34% for China, 20% for European nations, and 24% for Japanese imports, based on what tariffs they charge on U.S. exports, Trump said.

“We will supercharge our domestic industrial base, we will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers,” Trump said during his speech. “Ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers.”

Stocks broadly got hit by Trump’s announcements. An exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 slid 2.8%, while an ETF following the Nasdaq 100 lost more than 3%.

During his speech, Trump praised Apple, Meta, and Nvidia for spending money and investing in the United States.

“Apple is going to spend $500 billion, they never spent money like that here,” Trump said. “They’re going to build their plants here.”

The Nasdaq just wrapped up its worst quarter since 2022, dropping 10% in the first three months of the year, though the tech-heavy index rose in each of the first two days of the second quarter.

WATCH: President Trump signs executive orders for reciprocal tariffs

Pres. Trump signs executive orders for reciprocal tariffs

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Amazon submits bid for TikTok as ban deadline nears

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Amazon submits bid for TikTok as ban deadline nears

Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk attend the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. 

Julia Demaree Nikhinson | Getty Images

Amazon submitted a bid to the White House to purchase the social media app TikTok from its Chinese owners, CNBC has confirmed.

The company sent its proposal in a letter this week to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. The parties aren’t treating the bid seriously, however, given that it was submitted just days before a deadline staving off a U.S. ban is set to expire, the person said.

Amazon declined to comment.

The e-commerce company’s offer, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes as TikTok’s fate in the U.S. is up in the air. The short-form video app faces another potential shutdown in the U.S. on April 5 if ByteDance, its parent company, can’t reach a deal to divest TikTok’s American operations. Lawmakers passed a bill last year setting a Jan. 19 deadline for the sale, but Trump signed an executive order granting a 75-day extension for a potential deal.

Trump could announce a decision on TikTok’s fate in the U.S. as soon as Wednesday, sources familiar with the situation told CNBC’s David Faber. Mobile technology company AppLovin has also made a bid for TikTok, Faber reported separately, citing sources familiar with the matter.

TikTok has emerged as a major hub for e-commerce as it has poured money into growing its online marketplace, called TikTok Shop. TikTok’s lucrative marketplace, coupled with the app’s more than 170 million users, could be an attractive asset for Amazon. Following TikTok’s success, Amazon launched and then shuttered a short-form video service of its own.

Last August, the two companies formed a partnership that allowed TikTok users to link their account with Amazon and make purchases from the site without leaving the app. The deal attracted scrutiny from lawmakers who were concerned about its potential national security risks.

WATCH: How TikTok Shop is beating Amazon and Temu in social shopping

How TikTok Shop Became The Fastest Growing Social Media Shopping Platform

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