Rise and fall of crypto exchange FTX

(Reuters) – Cryptocurrency exchange FTX stood on the brink of failure on Thursday after a bailout from larger rival Binance collapsed. Chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried said he was exploring all options for his firm.

Here is a history of FTX since its foundation in 2019:

2019:

May – Former Wall Street trader Sam Bankman-Fried and ex-Google employee Gary Wang founded FTX, the owner and operator of FTX.COM cryptocurrency exchange.

2020:

August – FTX acquired mobile portfolio tracking application, Blockfolio for $150 million.

2021:

July – A $900 million funding round valued FTX at $18 billion.

September – FTX signed a sponsorship deal with Mercedes’ Formula 1 team.

October – FTX raised capital at a valuation of $25 billion from investors including Singapore’s Temasek and Tiger Global.

2022:

Jan. 27 – FTX’s U.S. arm said it was valued at $8 billion after raising $400 million in its first funding round from investors including SoftBank and Temasek.

Jan. 31 – FTX raised $400 million from investors including SoftBank at a valuation of $32 billion.

June 4 – FTX signed a reportedly $135 million sponsorship deal for naming rights of the Miami Heat’s home court.

July 1 – FTX signed a deal with an option to buy embattled crypto lender BlockFi for up to $240 million.

July 22 – FTX offered a partial bailout of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. Voyager called it a “low-ball bid”.

July 29 – FTX said it won full approval to operate its exchange and clearing house in Dubai.

Aug. 19 – A U.S. bank regulator ordered crypto exchange FTX to halt “false and misleading” claims it had made about whether funds at the company are insured by the government.

Sept. 9 – FTX’s venture capital fund said it would buy a 30% stake in SkyBridge Capital.

Nov. 2 – Crypto news website CoinDesk reported a leaked balance sheet that showed Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s crypto trading firm, was heavily dependent on FTX’s native token, FTT. Reuters was unable to verify the report.

Nov. 6 – Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said his firm would liquidate its holdings of FTT due to unspecified “recent revelations”.

Nov. 7 – Bankman-Fried said “FTX is fine. Assets are fine”.

Nov. 8 – FTT collapses by 72% as clients swamp the exchange with withdrawal requests.

Nov. 9 – Binance decided against pursuing a nonbinding agreement to bail out FTX.

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