Miami-Dade ‘monitors’ uncertain future of FTX amid $135M arena naming rights deal

MIAMI – The name of the home of the Miami Heat could change sooner than planned if FTX is unable to abide by a deal with Miami-Dade County to pay $135 million over 19 years.

Billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried signed the county’s naming rights agreement in 2021. He founded FTX in 2019 and it grew to become the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the crypto industry.

County commissioners allocated a portion of FTX’s $5.5 million annual payment in January to fund community programs. Suddenly this month, FTX was the one in need of aid.

“FTX asked for our help. There is a significant liquidity crunch,” Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive officer of Binance, a more powerful FTX competitor, tweeted on Tuesday.

After many clients withdrew their money from FTX out of fear that it may cease to function in the near future, Binance intended to acquire the company on Tuesday but backed out after looking at the books.

“We are closely monitoring it. We are exploring all possible avenues to prepare ourselves,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said about FTX on Thursday during a news conference.

Bankman-Fried announced Thursday that Tron Credit Facility allowed FTX customers to transfer some cryptocurrencies and this will apply at first to about $13 million in assets.

“We hope this is just step one: beginning to find ways to bring liquidity to users. That is the core thing that I am fighting for right now, and will continue to fight for in whatever ways I can,” Bankman-Fried tweeted.

The Wall Street Journal reported Bankman-Fried asked his investors for $8 billion on Wednesday.

The Associated Press reported Binance found Bankman-Fried used FTX’s custodial assets to fund investments by Alameda Research, his trading firm, and FTX was the subject of investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Related letter: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation accuses FTX of false and misleading statements in August

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