Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has refuted claims that he was the source of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapse. Notably, FTX was hit with liquidity crunch moments after the Binance founder stated that the exchange would be liquidating all its FTT tokens.
According to Zhao, he should not be blamed for the collapse but noted that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) orchestrated the entire crisis terming him as ‘one of the greatest fraudsters in history’, he said in a tweet on December 6.
CZ alleged that SBF planned to present himself as a hero in the exchange collapse, maintaining that he made a lot of mistakes.
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“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,” the Binance CEO said.
Source of FTX collapse
Interestingly, after announcing that liquation of FTT, the native token of FTX, Zhao was accused of being the source of the exchange’s demise. However, Zhao fired back, stating that if the FTX business model was healthy, it could not be destroyed by a single tweet.
“CZ’s tweet destroyed FTX. No healthy business can be destroyed by a tweet,” he added.
The Binance boss made the sentiments in reaction to Bloomberg’s new report that attempted to trace FTX’s collapse to Twitter activity.
It is worth noting that following FTX’s collapse, SBF embarked on a media tour attempting to explain what happened. Initially, he was leveraging Twitter to explain the situation.
SBF defying legal counsel
In this line, SBF acknowledged that his legal team had not welcomed his public posts and sentiment. Consequently, Ira Sorkin, the lawyer who represented Bernie Madoff, who perpetrated the largest individual Ponzi Scheme, called on Bankman-Fried to ‘shut up.’
“That’s the first order of business: don’t talk. You’re not going to sway the public. The only people that are going to listen to what you have to say are regulators and prosecutors,” Sorkin said.
In the meantime, the probe into FTX collapse continues as SBF, and the exchange’s former promoters face a consumer class action worth $11 billion.
Featured image via Binance.com
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