Binance, the second-largest crypto exchange by daily traded volume, has made a strategic investment in crypto derivatives exchange FTX.

According to a Dec. 20 announcement, Binance has made both an equity investment in FTX and is taking a long term position in the exchange’s native asset, FTX Token (FTT).

“Positive competition”

Within the scope of the strategic partnership, Binance’s backing will aim to drive sustainable growth in FTX’s ecosystem.

While Binance has not itself disclosed the sum of its investment, Sam Bankman Fried — the founder of FTX and head of its affiliate Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm and crypto liquidity provider — told Bloomberg it was to the order of “tens of millions.”

This, he claimed, implied a valuation for FTX “in the hundreds of millions of dollars.” He said that Binance’s investment and strategic advisory role will help FTX to accelerate its growth while it maintains the independence of its operations.

The derivatives exchange was founded in early 2019 and provides professional derivative trading products including quarterly and perpetual contracts on various crypto assets, leverage tokens and over-the-counter (OTC) services.

Since its founding, FTX has grown to process almost half a billion dollars in daily traded volume, according to Binance.

As a strategic partner, FTX will also help Binance to build out its existing liquidity and institutional product offerings, including its flagship exchange and OTC trading desk.

In a statement, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao pointed to FTX’s “stunning growth,” adding that:

“With their backgrounds as professional traders, we see quite a bit ourselves in the FTX team and believe in their potential in becoming a major player in the crypto derivatives markets.“

Binance CFO Wei Zhou added that the Binance team encourages “positive competition as well as partnerships” to help develop new products and services for the industry.

Multi-country expansion and diverse offerings

As reported this fall, Binance’s recently-launched Bitcoin futures product has performed strongly, hitting a $700 million record in October as other platforms in the crypto spot and derivatives markets saw lackluster activity.

The exchange launched its United States-based service, Binance.US, this September and has this month begun testing an iOS app for Binance.US users.

Also this month, Binance announced the launch of its fiat gateway for Latin America, beginning by facilitating the direct purchase of cryptocurrencies using Argentine pesos and Brazilian reals.