FTX Crisis. Is Tron Helping or Earning?
On October 10 FTX announced that it reached an agreement with Tron to allow the holders of Tron-based tokens to swap them from FTX to external wallets.
On October 10 FTX announced that it reached an agreement with Tron to allow the holders of Tron-based tokens to swap them from FTX to external wallets.
We hope this is just step one: beginning to find ways to bring liquidity to users.
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 10, 2022
That is the core thing that I am fighting for right now, and will continue to fight for in whatever ways I can. https://t.co/pzTJBsytVS
According to Bloomberg, Tron founder Justin Sun said that “Tron is prepared to provide billions of dollars in aid to FTX.com should it go ahead with a deal to rescue the ailing cryptocurrency exchange”.
The deal was signed and now the customers can withdraw TRX, BTT, JST, SUN, and HT from FTX 1:1 to external wallets, but their deposits are disabled. The only deposits available will be pre-announced weekly by Tron team:
“The exact capacity of the Tron Token facility will be determined weekly and future injections will occur at 14:00 UTC. The amount to be deposited will depend on a number of factors such as withdrawal demand and funding capacity to be provided by Tron. By providing a set schedule of the amount of tokens to be introduced into the market and the corresponding time, our goal is to provide more clarity to the market allowing users to make better informed decisions. Initially, $13,000,000 of assets will be deployed to facilitate such swaps,”- says FTX announcement on the company website.
Now FTX customers are buying these tokens craving to get the locked funds back. This enormously bids up the price of Tron-based tokens on FTX, but does not affect their market price (as of Oct. 12):
|
Token |
Market price (according to CoinGecko) |
FTX price |
|
TRX |
$0.055388 |
$0.4355525 |
|
BTT |
$0.000000708489 |
$0.00001286 |
|
JST |
$0.055485 |
$1.752530 |
|
SUN |
$0.00539069 |
$0.0322500 |
|
HT |
$5.06 |
$32.7740 |
Taking into account the difference in prices, this whole deal seems a bit tricky, and we are not the only ones who think so:
Isn't it illegal?
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) November 10, 2022
1/ FTX allows withdrawals only for TRX & TRC20.
2/ Users exchange assets to TRX to request withdrawals.
3/ TRX price goes up like 50x in FTX.
4/ Justin deposits TRX into FTX and sells them.
5/ FTX users sell TRX in other exchanges with a significant loss. https://t.co/FKCV5IoGUu pic.twitter.com/91zrLugiuu
Those who buy TRX now, the price is 7 times higher than the real one, so if you buy, you have chosen to give up a good part of the funds. If one day FTX is obliged to reimburse everyone, you will not be able to claim anything because you voluntary chosen to buy at this price
— Jhn (@JahnnyDNS) November 10, 2022
Why are you making your customer exit liquidity for Justin Sun/Tron. They shouldnt have to buy tron at $1 on ftx but forced to sell at 0.06 on other exchanges.
— OttawaWebPro (@OttawaWebPro) November 10, 2022
You are double victimizing them.
There is no information about other offers to help FTX to overcome the crisis apart from Binance, which initially offered to buy the company. Later Binance withdrew the proposal.
In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help.
— Binance (@binance) November 9, 2022
To sum up, it is nice that Justin Sun gives a helping hand to FTX, but is it a real help for customers or just a smart market manipulation to earn money - that’s the question.
💡 Read more about the FTX crisis and its consequences: