coindesk.com
The giant crypto exchange Binance's in-house token, BNB, led a broad rebound in digital-asset markets on Tuesday after CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao announced a plan to rescue billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried's rival FTX exchange from the throes of a blockchain-era deposit run.
The CoinDesk Market Index, which tracks a basket of 162 digital assets, jumped about 4.8% in a little over an hour.
Most cryptocurrencies were plunging earlier in the day as fears spread that FTX might be facing liquidity issues; data showed that the balance of bitcoin on the FTX exchange had plunged by 99% to literally 1 BTC (worth about $20,000).
Crypto markets sharply rebounded after Bankman-Fried, FTX’s CEO, and Zhao – in a Twitter feud over the past few days – tweeted that their firms reached a deal.
Read more: FTX Agrees to Sell Itself to Rival Binance Amid Liquidity Scare at Crypto Exchange
BNB jumped 20% after the announcement and was changing hands at $362 as of press time. The token has outperformed the broader crypto market, up 11.5% in the last 24 hours. The CMI is still down 1.9% over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC) surged above $20,000 and was changing hands around $19,766, down 4.5%, but still up from a low around $19,300 earlier in the day. Ether (ETH) popped 6% in an hour, recently trading around $1,500.
FTX's exchange token, FTT, bounced after the announcement but was still down 34% over the past 24 hours.
Solana's SOL, which had tumbled Monday on speculation that Bankman-Fried's trading firm, Alameda Research, might have to dump some of its holdings in a bid to raise liquidity, was still nursing an 18% loss.