​Binance CEO calls FTX’s ex-CEO “one of the greatest fraudsters in history”

What’s new? Binance exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao has denied claims that he was involved in the bankruptcy of the FTX trading platform. He noted that the exchange itself is to blame for its collapse because it stole billions of dollars of user funds. Zhao called FTX’s founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried “one of the greatest fraudsters in history.” In his opinion, Bankman-Fried planned to portray himself as a hero by claiming in various interviews that he made many mistakes. “He is also a master manipulator when it comes to media and key opinion leaders,” the Binance chief said.

4.2 SBF perpetuated a narrative painting me and other people as the “bad guys”. It was critical in maintaining the fantasy that he was a “hero.” SBF is one of the greatest fraudsters in history, he is also a master manipulator when it comes to media and key opinion leaders. — CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) December 6, 2022

What else did Zhao write? He also commented on claims that Bankman-Fried had good intentions but made mistakes. To this, the head of Binance countered that lies never come with good intentions.

Zhao also refuted claims that his tweet destroyed FTX. “No healthy business can be destroyed by a tweet,” he said. Nonetheless, Zhao mentioned another tweet that he believes triggered massive sales of the exchange token FTT. It was a message from Caroline Ellison, CEO of FTX affiliate Alameda Research, in which she urged Zhao to sell all of FTT to her trading company at $22 per coin. At that point, it became known that FTT constituted a significant portion of Alameda’s capital, after which Binance announced that it would completely liquidate its position in this asset.

@cz_binance if you're looking to minimize the market impact on your FTT sales, Alameda will happily buy it all from you today at $22! — Caroline (@carolinecapital) November 6, 2022

The head of Binance also commented on claims that he wanted to be “the savior of crypto.” Zhao said that digital assets do not need to be saved, noting that it is “the beauty of decentralization.” Binance wants to help other good projects that may be facing a shortage of money because of recent events. “It’s in our collective best interest,” the businessman stressed. Last month, for example, he said that the company is ready to allocate $1 billion or more to buy distressed assets, and announced the creation of a fund to help crypto projects experiencing a liquidity crisis.

Zhao stressed that Binance does not focus on competitors because it is a waste of time and resources when the industry has only touched 6% of the [Earth’s] population.” By contrast, his company wants multiple exchanges, blockchain wallets, etc. to coexist in the ecosystem, Zhao added

Earlier, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz called Bankman-Fried’s comments about the FTX Group collapse in the media “delusional” and was surprised that the attorneys let him speak. Novogratz also called for the former exchange CEO and his associates to be jailed because together they “perpetuated a large fraud.”

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called the media articles about the former FTX CEO “one the biggest failures in US journalistic integrity of the 21st century.” Earlier, he also called Bankman-Fried’s interview with the NYT a puff piece, a similar point of view was expressed by many representatives of the crypto industry.

Later, Bankman-Fried spoke at NYT’s summit, where he stated that he had made many management failures. And in a conversation on a podcast from The Block, he called FTX “a real business that was making real profit.”

For what awaits FTX and Bankman-Fried, read an interview with Mark Karpeles, the former owner of bankrupt Mt. Gox.