Legal experts believe that federal regulators will try to block the acquisition of the FTX exchange due to antitrust violations.
Antitrust expert Thibault Schrepel said he "won't be surprised if there's a legal document or an antitrust case against Binance and FTX in the near future." The expert explains: according to current US laws, direct competitors are prohibited from absorbing each other. However, according to reports from the participants in the transaction, Zhao announced his intervention after FTX asked for help, facing a "significant liquidity crisis."
This is a direct violation of the Sherman Act of 1890 and is treated as a conspiracy and an illegal agreement, Schrepel argues. US regulators are very likely to enforce the provisions of this act and prevent FTX from being taken over by Binance, as the deal affects the entire company, whether FTX US is part of the deal or not.
Shrepel's concerns are echoed by Brandon Kressin, head of the antitrust law firm Kressin Law Group:
“The planned takeover of FTX is a textbook horizontal merger that is being targeted by antitrust laws in the US and around the world. I think it is very short-sighted to hope that the registration of companies outside the United States, or the withdrawal of the American division of FTX US from the deal, will save the agreement between the two businessmen from strict antitrust control.
Kressin believes Binance and FTX's joint announcement kicked off a months-long lawsuit that could potentially lead to federal regulators attempting to block the acquisition.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried announced on Tuesday, Nov. 8, plans to merge the companies. The deal immediately raised questions from financial advisers about possible opposition from government regulators.
Recall: at the final stage of submitting bids for the sale of assets of the bankrupt company, Voyager Digital Binance was suspended
from participation in the auction. The reason was the decree of the President of the United States, which prohibits Chinese investors from participating in purchase and sale transactions of American companies that have access to confidential data of citizens of the country.
Russian 
English 
Polish