According to former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, a single tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao contributed to the failure of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Testifying in Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial on Oct. 12, Ellison reportedly placed part of the blame for the collapse of FTX on CZ’s social media activity. In the now famous tweet on X (formerly Twitter) from Nov. 6, 2022, CZ announced that Binance would be liquidating its holdings of FTX Token (FTT) “due to recent revelations that have came to light.”
As part of Binance’s exit from FTX equity last year, Binance received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT). Due to recent revelations that have came to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books. 1/4
According to many reports, the liquidation of the tokens caused retail investors to follow Binance’s example and withdraw funds from FTX. The run on the platform led to FTX halting withdrawals and filing for bankruptcy on Nov. 11.
According to Ellison, although the tweet “contributed” to FTX’s collapse, the main reason was Alameda borrowing $10 billion from the exchange “it couldn’t repay.” She first took the stand in SBF’s trial on Oct. 10, testifying that Bankman-Fried directed her to have Alameda take billions of dollars from FTX without users’ consent.
CZ pushed back against claims that one of his tweets “destroyed FTX” in a Dec. 6 thread, saying, “No healthy business can be destroyed by a tweet.” He pointed to Ellison’s own social media activity from Nov. 6, claiming Alameda’s offer to buy Binance’s FTT holdings “was the real cause for people to dump” the tokens.
4. “CZ’s tweet destroyed FTX”
No healthy business can be destroyed by a tweet.
However, there was a tweet that may have, Caroline’s tweet 16 minutes after mine on Nov 6. Data shows it was the real cause for people to dump FTT:https://t.co/yWFqKvbqMU
The information provided by the former Alameda CEO at trial included Bankman-Fried’s apparent ambition to become the president of the United States, creating multiple “alternative” spreadsheets of Alameda’s financials to present to Genesis, and SBF looking to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a potential backer of the exchange. Her testimony on cross-examination from defense counsel Mark Cohen seemed to focus on Bankman-Fried’s knowledge of Alameda’s operations.
On questioning from Cohen, Ellison testified that she “might have said that [SBF] might not have known” about her concerns “putting FTX customers’ funds at risk.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon called the claim “vague.”
Ellison took the stand on the seventh day of SBF’s criminal trial, which began on Oct. 3. She was one of the first FTX and Alameda insiders to plead guilty as part of an agreement with U.S. authorities for her testimony.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to seven criminal charges in his first trial, expected to run through November. He will face an additional five counts in a March 2024 trial.
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Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Image: Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Image: Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Image: Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Image: Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.