Binance CEO responds to mainstream FUD: They don’t know how an exchange works

In the aftermath of the FTX collapse, Forbes published an article that focused on the recent “shuffling” of funds by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

However, the following day on Feb. 28, Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) took to Twitter to tackle the FUD. In response to the article, the CEO said:

“They seem to not understand the basics of how an exchange works. Our users are free to withdraw their assets any time they want.”

In his series of tweets, he addressed various claims from the Forbes article. This included what it called a “backroom maneuver” when Binance transferred $1.8 billion in stablecoin collateral to hedge funds such as Tron, Amber group and Alameda Research between Aug. 17, 2022, to early December.

They called out Tron, Amber group, Alameda Research, etc. They seem to not understand the basics of how an exchange works. Our users are free to withdraw their assets any time they want. Their withdrawals are turned into “received hundreds of millions of shifted collateral.”

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 28, 2023

In light of the movement of funds, the article drew parallels between Binance and the now-defunct FTX in the lead-up to its own demise. It also touched on the failed Voyager bid by Binance.US and the recent ordeal with Paxos and BUSD minting.