👉 Background: FTX is a crypto exchange that was founded in The Bahamas back in 2019. It's now one of the world's biggest exchanges. As of last year, FTX averaged $10 billion of daily crypto trading volume, and they've got over 5 million users!

👉 What happened: Taking over the Miami Heats Stadium and calling it the FTX Arena ain't enough. FTX now wants to buy Robinhood (aka the trading platform that went public last year and has been on a downward spiral ever since).

👉 What else: We should mention that Robinhood hasn’t received a formal takeover notice from FTX as of yet. But experts reckon this is FTX's way of squashing financial contagion.

What's the key learning?

💡Financial contagion is the spread of economic shock from one company/industry/country to another. Given how globalised the world is today, it's easy for a localised financial shock to become globally contagious 🌏.

💡During the GFC, problems in certain parts of the US financial markets turned into a global crisis. Right now, you could say that financial contagion has started in the crypto markets, which also extends to associated companies, like Robinhood.

💡FTX, which has raised $1.8bn since July last year, is offering loans to crypto firms in dire straits (potentially including Robinhood). While it may be a profit-seeking move, it may also just stop some crypto contagion.

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