First Mover Americas: Binance Dumps FTT Tokens

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.

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Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said the exchange plans to sell all of its FTT tokens after a CoinDesk report revealed the potentially parlous state of trading firm and FTX sister company Alameda Research. Zhao tweeted that Binance will sell all of the remaining FTT (FTX’s native token) that it received last year as part of its exit from FTX equity. Although Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison offered to buy back Binance’s entire FTT allocation, the token declined from over $25 to under $22 and is down 1.6% on the day.

Canadian bitcoin miner Hive Blockchain appears to be in better shape than many of its mining peers. The firm has 3,311 BTC worth $68.8 million, and, unlike several rivals, it has no debt-servicing payments related to digital assets or its mining equipment. The crypto market slump in recent months has hit mining firms hard, with share prices tanking and companies seeking means to manage liquidity and debt.

Stablecoin issuer Paxos is eyeing a major hiring push in Singapore, where it last week received a license to offer crypto products and services. The firm plans to add more than 130 employees to its current staff of 20 over the next three years, making the city-state its hub for growth outside its U.S. home. Paxos is one of the few crypto companies that are bucking the trend of the wider story in the digital-assets industry, which has been dominated by layoffs as a result of the market downturn.

Chart of the Day: Futures Volume Down

• The chart shows the bitcoin futures market volume and the cryptocurrency's spot price since December 2021. Futures trading volume has dropped sharply in recent weeks, indicating a spot-driven market.
• "The reduced traded volume in the futures market reinforced the thesis of a lack of speculation to the up and downside as the spot market continued to drive the price action," Glassnode's co-founders Yann Allemann and Jan Happel wrote in the latest edition of their Uncharted newsletter.
• "Increased spot volume suggests an agreement that bitcoin is where it needs to be," the newsletter added.

– Omkar Godbole

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