Binance Debunks FUD: CZ Addresses Controversy Surrounding Exchange

On December 23, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of Binance, posted on Twitter to discuss the causes of the recent fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding the cryptocurrency exchange.

CZ claims in the thread that rather than the exchange itself, external factors are primarily to blame for Binance’s FUD.

The CEO cited the fact that some members of the crypto community despise centralization as one of the causes. They simply despise CEX, he said, regardless of whether it accelerates the adoption of cryptocurrencies.

The Block’s CEO, Mike McCaffrey, who secretly financed the crypto news platform with loans from Alameda Research, was cited by CZ as an example of how Binance has been perceived as competition by many industry players, with increasing lobbying against the exchange and “loaning sums of money to small media that’s worth many times the media outlet’s market value, including buying their CEOs houses, etc.”

After disclosing two loans totaling $27 million from the FTX Group hedge fund, McCaffrey resigned as CEO on December 9.

Without offering any proof, CZ repeatedly cited media outlets’ coverage as the source of FUD and claimed that some had been “paid” to produce it.

The executive also pointed out that right-wing politicians spreading false information while attempting to safeguard established financial institutions from disruption by cryptocurrencies. Being cautious is acceptable, according to CZ, but banks should adopt blockchain technology rather than battle disruption.

Finally, CZ asserted that the spread of FUD against the exchange may be aided by a “tiny number of people who are envious, or just plain racist against Chinese-looking Canadians.”

Since the demise of FTX, investors have been shifting their crypto assets to self-custody and other exchanges in response to the FUD surrounding Binance. The exchange lost billions in the last few weeks due to a variety of worries about its reserves, liquidity, and ongoing US investigations.

According to Cointelegraph, Binance also released a blog post in Chinese on December 22 that addressed seven important points the company wished to clarify.