According to Lucas Nuzzi, head of research at CoinMetrics, there is evidence that FTX may have provided a massive bailout for Alameda in the second quarter, and that’s what’s bothering them now.
According to data analysis, Alameda came to the brink of collapse with Three Arrows Capital and others in the second quarter of this year. It survived because it used the 17.2 million FTT guaranteed to vest after 4 months as collateral to obtain from FTX Funds, once vested, all tokens are returned as repayment.
The FTT ICO contracts are auto-vesting, and if FTX lets Alameda implode in May, their collapse will ensure that all FTT tokens subsequently vested in September are liquidated. This is going to be bad for FTX, so they have to figure out a way to avoid it.
Alameda and FTX actually put all their chips on the table in the second quarter and used the money to bail out other companies, which solidified FTX’s image as a solvent and responsible institution and helped FTT’s price rise.
A bailout for Alameda could weaken FTX’s balance sheet, making it no longer solvent, which is why Alameda has gone to great lengths to protect the price of FTT.
Nuzzi also speculated that it is possible that people at Binance were aware of this arrangement between FTX and Alameda. As large holders of FTT, they may start to deliberately disrupt this market in order to force FTX to face a liquidity crunch.
