Tron’s native token TRX has been seeing significant upside on the FTX exchange since the announcement of a potential deal that would allow users to withdraw funds. This deal is one of the only ones that have gone into effect since FTX began experiencing issues and it seems users are already taking advantage of it. However, it is not all rosy as users begin to notice the downside to this.
TRX Price Explodes On FTX
TRX token is already over the last week on the FTX exchange. Tron founder Justin Sun had seemingly worked out an agreement with the troubled exchange to allow users to swap their crypto currently stuck on the platform for TRX tokens and then withdraw it.
This would obviously make it possible for users to swap digital assets such as bitcoin, ethereum, etc, to TRX, and then proceed to withdraw it, making it possible for them to withdraw previously stuck funds from FTX. It has naturally become a popular option for FTX users, causing the price of the digital asset to balloon on the exchange.
In just 24 hours following the announcement, TRX’s price was already up significantly. While the token’s price remained relatively low on all other exchanges, it had traded to a high of $0.43 on the FTX exchange. Compared to the $0.05 price mark that is the case across all other exchanges, it is trading at a 600% premium on FTX.
TRX price spikes on FTX | Source:
There has been some fluctuation in the price since the token hit this new high on the platform. However, the price still remains high at $0.43 at the time of writing, with trading volumes already exceeding $630 million in a 24-hour timeframe.
Not A Good Deal
At first, converting digital assets to TRX on the FTX exchange in order to withdraw looked like a good idea, but that only lasted as long as prices on the exchange correlated with the broader crypto market. As the price of TRX inflated on the FTX exchange, the value that users were getting when they swapped their tokens quickly plummeted.
With TRX being 500% above market price on FTX, it means that the exchange’s users would only be getting about 20 cents on the dollar when they swap. This is because after withdrawing TRX from FTX, they would still have to swap the tokens at current market prices.
To put this in perspective, say someone has $10,000 worth of bitcoin and swapped it to TRX at $0.43 (current prices), they would get around 38,570 TRX. When they withdraw and move to other exchanges for sale, taking the current price on Coinmarketcap of $0.05, they would have only $1,162 after selling. This translates to roughly 12 cents on the dollar.
Meanwhile, Tron is making bank buying these digital assets for cheap as they are the only ones allowed to transfer TRX into FTX. At the current rate, they will be seeing millions of dollars in profit, presumably giving FTX a healthy cut of the proceeds.
What this shows is that it is the end users that always get screwed over in times like these. Even deals that seem to be “helpful” turns out just to be another way to exploit users who are already in a vulnerable position from the exchange’s collapse.
Featured image from Medium, chart from TradingView.com
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