Tron’s Justin Sun sets sight on FTX’s assets

Tron founder Justin Sun is interested in buying the assets of Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, according to reports on November 22, 2022.

Sun says he’s open to any kind of FTX deal

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur and the founder of the crypto network Tron, Justin Sun, said that he and his associates were considering the purchases of assets from Sam Bankman-Fried’s defunct crypto exchange, FTX.

“We are open to any kind of deal. I think all the options [are] on the table,” Sun told correspondents. “Right now, we are evaluating assets one by one, but as far as I understand the process is going to be long since they are already in this kind of bankruptcy procedure.” 

Sun revealed that Tron and Huobi Global digital-asset exchange representatives were currently in the Bahamas for talks with FTX executives.

Last week, FTX concluded its first round of bankruptcy proceedings, where the filing revealed that FTX’s core team held USD 1.24 billion in cash reserves and that the FTX exchange held zero Bitcoin on its balance sheet. 

FTX now owes roughly $3.1 billion to its biggest creditors, according to the published court filings.

Tron has been in the news since the FTX debacle; some days before FTX filed for bankruptcy, Tron launched a credit facility that would enable holders of its native token to remove all their assets from the platform.  Justin Sun also indicated that he was willing to provide liquidity to the tune of billions to the troubled FTX enterprise. However, the company failed to secure a bailout, with investors refusing to jump in after the full extent of the crisis became more apparent.

Sun is far from the only crypto entrepreneur looking to buy FTX assets. On November 22, 2022, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse signaled interest in acquiring some FTX assets. He noted that his company is targeting FTX’s infrastructure that serves business customers. Ripple is also eyeing other companies that are part of FTX’s portfolio.   

The abrupt collapse of FTX has continued to take its toll on the global crypto markets and no one knows for sure when the bulls will return. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering at around $16,155, with the global crypto market capitalization sitting at $804.39 billion.