Leaks Reveal Crypto Bosses Are Gearing Up for an Earthquake in Bitcoin and Ethereum Price at $65 Billion

BitcoinBTC
ethereum and the rest of the crypto market have been hit hard by a devastating price crash this year (and may be about to take another hit).

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Bitcoin price has crashed to around $17,000, dragging down the price of ethereum, causing chaos for crypto companies and forcing Coinbase’s CEO to issue a dire warning.

Now, following the shock collapse of major crypto exchange FTX, leaks have revealed that CEOs of some of crypto’s biggest companies fear the crypto crisis could destabilize the $65 billion-linked stablecoin tether – potentially devastating the prices of bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies.

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“Stop trying to de-peg stablecoins,” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao reportedly told FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in a Signal message group, according to messages seen by New York TimesNEW
and The Wall Street Journal. “And stop doing anything. Stop now, don’t do any more damage.”

Bankman-Fried reportedly responded with a denial that his bankrupt trading firm Alameda Research was trying to beat out the dollar price, which would likely depress the price of bitcoin, ethereum and the already badly damaged $800 billion crypto market.

“Trades of that size will not have a material impact on tether’s pricing, and to my knowledge neither myself nor Alameda have ever attempted to intentionally remove the tether or other stablecoins,” Bankman-Fried said in a statement to The Bankman . WSJand asked, “Are you claiming that you believe that $250,000 USDT trade would remove the bind?”

The Signal group chat, which includes tether’s issuing company chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino, rival exchange CEO Jesse Powell and tron ​​founder Justin Sun, is called “exchange coordination,” WSJ reported.

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FTX’s sudden merger in November came months after this year’s bitcoin, ethereum and cryptocurrency crash saw algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD and its backing coin luna implode, setting off a chain reaction that is still being felt.

The stablecoin market, led by tether, Circle’s USDCUSDC
and Binance’s BUSDBUSD
, has grown to a combined value of around $150 billion over the past few years. Stablecoins, most of which are priced in US dollars, act as the grease for the wheels of the crypto market, helping the flow of funds from the traditional financial system.

Earlier this week it was reported by Semaphore that Tether “looks shaky”, quoting a hedge fund trader who claimed that expectations are high that Tether will be the crypto market’s next victim.