Tether has indicated that it has no plans to invest cash into FTX, despite the CEO allegedly approaching many companies for assistance.
On November 10, Tether CTO, Paolo Ardoino, affirmed the company has “no plans to invest or lend money to FTX/Alameda.”
As it struggles to close a purported multi-billion dollar hole in its financial sheet, cryptocurrency exchange FTX has lost at least one possible savior.
Ardoino made his remarks in response to a Reuters report from Nov. 10 that said the $9.4 billion gap at FTX had FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried reaching out to many businesses for funding to keep the exchange solvent.
Tether, the cryptocurrency exchange OKX, and the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is among the businesses that Bankman-Fried is said to have approached for funding. It is said that he has requested at least $1 billion from each of the organizations.
The sentiment expressed in a blog post by Tether on November 9 that assured the community that it has no exposure to Alameda or FTX appears to be reflected in the CTO’s answer.
In order to cooperate with law authorities, the stablecoin issuer reportedly froze 46,360,701 USDT held by FTX in its Tron blockchain wallet on November 10.
It is unclear at this time whether OKX or Sequoia Capital is thinking about supporting the troubled exchange.
To aid with FTX’s liquidity concerns, Bankman-Fried requested up to $4 billion from the exchange, although Lennix Lai, director of financial markets at OKX, earlier told Reuters on Nov. 9 that the company had not yet decided whether or not to support FTX.
On Nov. 10, Sequoia canceled out its almost $214 million worth of investments in FTX and declared them a complete loss, claiming that the company’s liquidity problems “posed a solvency risk” but that the impact would be minimal.
According to two unidentified individuals, FTX apparently also approached the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, as reported by Axios on Nov. 10; however, it is unclear whether a transaction was ultimately made between the two companies.
Through a partnership with the Tron blockchain that permits its assets to be swapped 1:1 with external wallets, FTX currently only seems to be able to continue a small number of withdrawals. As users scramble to leave the exchange, the deal caused Tron-based tokens to trade on the platform at a premium of up to 1200%.
