Binance

Binance CEO Was “Never Against” the now Infamous FTX Founder

  • Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that he was “never against” the former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX despite industry players calling him the orchestrator of the entire drama.
  • A Turkish-American economist Nouriel Roubini revealed his “seven Cs of crypto” ie. “concealed, corrupt, crooks, criminals, con men, carnival barkers, and  Changpeng Zhao.” 
  • Even if his announcement regarding the public sale of FTX token FTT may have sparked a larger sale of the token and led to FTX’s liquidity issue, Zhao insisted that his actions were motivated neither by malice nor by rivalry.

As the accused FTX founder continues to complain on Twitter, Binance CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao has reiterated his viewpoint on Sam Bankman-Fried. Zhao told CNBC on Thursday that he was “never against” the now infamous SBF, whose $26 billion net worth has dropped to zero amid FTX’s collapse and charges of fraud and mismanagement of customer assets.

“We don’t focus on other smaller exchanges,” Zhao stated, in an interview.

It is important to note that the Binance head has been attacked by many critics citing him as the initiator of the FTX event. A Turkish-American economist Nouriel Roubini revealed his “seven Cs of crypto” ie. “concealed, corrupt, crooks, criminals, con men, carnival barkers, and  Changpeng Zhao.” 

Even if his public sale of FTX token FTT may have sparked a larger sale of the token and led to FTX’s liquidity issue, Zhao insisted that his actions were motivated neither by malice nor by rivalry.

“We were never in a battle with him. He may think he’s in a battle with us. We didn’t even notice. We did hear some concerns about, you know, him badmouthing us behind our backs in D.C., in other political lobbying circles,” Zhao admitted.

Binance Initially Supported FTX

Binance was an early supporter of FTX. Zhao said he decided at which point he needed to leave when he realized things had gotten bad. He added: “We just said, ‘Look, we don’t wanna be entangled, we just want to exit our equity portion.’ We did that a year and a half ago. And as part of that transaction we got some FTT tokens,”

Zhao clarified he was unaware of the full scope of FTX’s off-the-record operations.

“I’m shocked that he lied to everybody, I didn’t know that he lied to everybody until a week ago,” he said.

Zhao Speaks About Regulations

Binance’s CEO is a huge supporter of regulations and believes that the crypto space needs to be regulated almost immediately. In a recent statement, Zhao, who is known as CZ in the crypto space, said that stable and clear regulations for the industry are needed to prevent players from “cutting corners.”

Zhao was asked if he thought regulations would have avoided the FTX collapse, and he responded:

“Regulations could minimize some of the problems, but when a person lies—when there’s a bad player that just wants to do bad things—regulation doesn’t prevent it.” 

Binance has increasingly supported crypto firms and recently introduced a the fifth season for the Incubation Program wherein 12 projects were included which would be coached to make it big in the crypto space.

Parth Dubey
Parth Dubey Verified Author

A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.

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