Sigh... the last couple of days has seen some drama pop out between Binance and FTX after the Alameda filing seemed to indicate that the sister (trading arm) company of FTX might be slightly less liquid than thought due to some pretty strong exposure to FTX and locked tokens. Of course, when you are exposed as being a little bit illquid... then the sharks start to see what sort of holes they can poke in you.

I've always been a bit curious about the relationship between Binance and FTX. Binance was an early investor of FTX I think, and as such holds a large chunk of FTT tokens. Meanwhile, they have both taken somewhat different routes as far as their exchange operations go.. Binance has mostly tried to grow before being regulated, and has a less flashy sponsorship style... whilst FTX has gone the more regulated American route, and done some quite splashy sponsorship partnerships. Quite a stark contrast if you ask me...

Now, for me... I have tokens on both exchanges, but I have to say that I'm much closer to the Binance side of things these days.. in Europe, I used both relatively equally as holding pots for tokens that I might want to sell. Binance had the very easy to use locked and flexible staking products which meant that I could easily park tokens there whilst waiting for a time to sell... meanwhile, FTX had the margin lending option which meant that I could also park tokens there whilst waiting for a moment to sell. Either way, things parked on exchange could still be productive.

However,that changed quite drastically when I moved to Australia... all of a sudden, I was in a region where margin trading and lending were forbidden, and suddenly FTX was much less useful to me. So, I had withdrawn most of my tokens within a few months of arriving. Meanwhile, Binance started to expand and include tokens that used to be only on FTX... and so, I found myself slowly migrating more and more towards Binance.... bad practice, but keep in mind that these were mostly things that I wanted to sell, or had no interest in maintaining my own custody of the tokens (some of these chains are right pains in the arse!... especially if they are low-quality shitcoins).

Fast forward to today... where Binance is offloading its FTT position... for whatever reasons. I think it is trying to rock the Alademda/FTX boat... and in some ways it is succeeding, with quite a large number of people fleeing the FTX platform... just in case. Personally, I think that it is unlikely that FTX will go under... it is pretty large, and I thought pretty stable... but the last year has taught us that not everything that looks fine, is fine. So, I've tightened up what I have left on FTX.... just in case.

The two exchange tokens, FTT and BNB, I have a decent exposure to. BNB, I find has a better use case... VISA card rebates, Launchpad/pool allocations, trading discounts... all of that sort of nice stuff. Meanwhile, FTT, well... I only have that as I use FTX as an on-ramp... and holding FTT gives me free withdrawals, which can be REALLY handy when tossing things around Ethereum!

Meanwhile, I think that Binance is a-ok (famous last words...)... I have the feeling that if Binance is in trouble, then we are in for a world of pain. I haven't yet started moving things off Binance, but it is time for a bit of a stocktake to see what I should move and what I should keep. I should move off the B-ETH staking onto something on chain... that would really be a large chunk out.... but the bulk of it is BNB exposure, which only really has much value if Binance is alive anyway.

Personally, I would prefer that neither of them go under... but as I had said, surprises have been quite plentiful this year!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!