The bankruptcy of reputable cryptocurrency exchange FTX has caused complete turmoil in the industry. Binance agreed to make a non-binding contribution to the troubled business earlier this month. Then, though, it quickly changed its mind and said that it was powerless to do anything about the problems.
Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and CEO of Binance, recently lambasted Sam Bankman-Fried, the outgoing CEO of the insolvent exchange FTX. Zhao was asked to comment on a tweet sent by SBF on Thursday that referred to him as a “sparring partner” at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit.
Binance’s CZ Believes That SBF Should Have Worked On Other Things
Speaking on the same, CZ said,
“When he tweets about a sparring partner, his house is burning and all this is happening, he’s losing focus… That day when he tweeted that, he should have been working on other things. He should not be writing tweets.”
He further added,
“… he never told me I was his sparring partner. I’m actually not sure if that tweet was aimed at me or us (Binance).“
Further asserting that “only a psychotic can post that message,” the Binance CEO claimed that he had never seen other exchanges as direct rivals. More so because cryptocurrency was still in its infancy. He went on to say more, saying,
“We haven’t even reached 1% adoption. We can grow the industry 100x… We never view other exchanges as sparring partners or competition—it’s not a boxing match.”
Zhao clarified the situation further by claiming that Bankman-Fried was the one who approached him just as FTX was about to collapse. He continued by saying that when Bankman-Fried approached him, they knew he was “desperate.”
When SBF first contacted CZ, the latter believed he was going to request an OTC agreement to buy the FTT tokens in order to reduce market commotion. The former FTX CEO did, however, “quite rapidly indicate that they’re in significant danger, and they’re seeking for a buyout” on the call. CZ added,
“It didn’t take us very long to figure out there were way bigger problems [at FTX] than we imagined.”