New York, NY – The cryptocurrency industry was buzzing with excitement over the weekend as the market showed signs of an upturn. However, the celebration was short-lived for Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange that has been grappling with legal issues for the past few years. The latest blow came when FTX, another prominent player in the industry, filed a lawsuit against Binance Holdings Ltd. and its founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao. The lawsuit, seeking a hefty $1.8 billion, has brought new challenges to Binance’s doorstep.

The origins of the lawsuit trace back to a buyback agreement in 2021 involving Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of FTX, and key figures at Binance. The legal filing alleges that a significant portion of FTX’s assets, both internationally and in the US, were sold off in exchange for FTT tokens and Binance-branded currencies. The total value of the transaction amounted to $1.76 billion at the time.

In a surprising twist, the lawsuit also implicates Alameda Research, a sister company of FTX, accusing it of potential insolvency from its inception. By early 2021, the filing suggests that FTX’s sister company was already facing significant financial challenges.

Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, also found himself in hot water as FTX leveled accusations against him for allegedly posting misleading and fraudulent content on social media. The legal filing claims that Zhao’s actions were deliberately aimed at undermining his competitors and damaging their reputation.

As a result of the lawsuit, Binance’s native cryptocurrency, BNB, experienced a 2% dip in value over the previous 24 hours, trading at $621.27 at the time of reporting. The impact of the legal action on BNB’s price highlighted the growing uncertainty surrounding Binance amidst the broader market uptrend.