(Bloomberg) -- The sense of dread that swept across clients of fallen crypto exchange FTX.com was so intense that they pulled out $430 million worth of Bitcoin in the space of just four days.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s platform had more than 20,000 Bitcoins going into Sunday, according to data from CryptoQuant. That fell to almost zero by Wednesday after fears about FTX.com’s financial health led customers to flee.

Holdings of Ether, the largest token after Bitcoin by market value, have plunged more than 75% on the exchange while stablecoin numbers are down almost 40%, according to CryptoQuant.

The saga began unfolding Sunday when Binance Holdings Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in a tweet cast doubt on the strength of 30-year-old Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire. 

Zhao said Binance would sell all of its $529 million holdings in a token native to Bankman-Fried’s ecosystem. That token, FTT, proceeded to plunge from about $25 to approximately $4.4 as of noon Wednesday in London.

Clients fearing for FTX.com’s future raced to pull out their coins. The ensuing liquidity squeeze culminated in a shock non-binding letter of intent from Binance to acquire the ailing exchange and prevent it from going under.

Questions remain about the whether the deal will go through as Binance pours over FTX.com’s balance sheet.

“FTX is an excellent trading platform and the fact CZ stepped in as quickly as he did with a non-binding letter of intent to buy it is testament to this,” said David Adams, portfolio manager of the King River Digital Assets Fund in Sydney.

But short-term uncertainty over the drama will lead to a flight from risk, potentially lopping $5,000 from Bitcoin’s current price of about $18,000, he added.

--With assistance from Sunil Jagtiani.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.