CRYPTOCURRENCIES PLUNGE AS BINANCE SCRAPS DEAL FOR RIVAL FTX

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it plans to buy its rival FTX Trading, in the latest example of how fortunes can change rapidly in the crypto world.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter that his company had signed a letter of intent to buy FTX because the smaller exchange was experiencing a "significant liquidity crunch." The deal was pending due diligence, Zhao said on Twitter.

The news shook the cryptocurrency world as the biggest crypto exchange had to apparently bail out the third largest exchange. Prices for major crypto assets plunged, with bitcoin prices falling more than 10% and ethereum dropping more than 15%.

Shares of publicly traded companies with heavy exposes to crypto fell sharply as well, with Coinbase and Robinhood seeing double-digit percentage declines.

Samuel Bankman-Fried, founder and CEO of FTX, also took to Twitter to say the deal with Binance would protect the exchange's customers. It's a surprising turn of events after Bankman-Fried was hailed as somewhat of a savior earlier this year when he helped shore up a number of cryptocurrency companies that ran into financial trouble.