Crypto Black Friday: CZ Denies Binance, Markets Tremble

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In the lit rooms where screens glare like pale windows onto the void, the crowd of traders shifts restlessly. Numbers rise and fall, and the air thickens with the dusty scent of fear and rumor. A day of bluster and blame weighs on the hearts of those who live by numbers, not by dreams.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao rejects the tale that Binance stirred the storm, insisting the October 10 sell-off, a monstrous mouthful that swallowed about 19 billion, was not a crime but a consequence-one of many mouths chewing at the market’s marrow. The day still gnaws at the nerves of the industry, shaping talk of risk and order.

The Denial from the Pillars of Exchange

From the glow of Binance’s questions-and-answers, Zhao speaks with the calm of a man who believes his own shield. He says Binance did not light the fuse; the explosion was not his alone to own.

According to Zhao, stories casting Binance as the villain are distant chatter, lacking evidence or mercy. He rejects the idea of universal compensation, as if losses could be replaced by some magical ledger entry.

Related reading, a rumor of a different beast: Binance to shift a billion SAFU into Bitcoin reserves within 30 days, a headline that makes risk managers sigh and mutter about thin ice.

He argues that the pressure, across the entire market, came from excessive leverage-an ache shared by all, not a single hand in the pie. To cast one exchange as the culprit would be to mistake a storm for a spark, a simplification fit for pamphlets and gossip.

He recalls the tightening of the eyes of regulators: Binance is under Abu Dhabi law, watched by the U.S. authorities, a figure in the ledger that must be clean in the eyes of the watchers. The structure is meant to be a beacon of transparency, even as the accusations fly and the specter of risk looms large.

On losses to users, Zhao notes compensation already paid-about six hundred million dollars-an attempt to cushion the jolt of glitches that the market hurled at extreme volatility. A bandage on a wound that will not forget the night.

Industry peers offer their own chorus. The OKX chief, Star Xu, steps forward with a sharp tongue, arguing that Binance’s role in the market’s anatomy cannot be ignored without a fight.

No complexity. No accident. 10/10 was caused by irresponsible marketing campaigns by certain companies.

On October 10, tens of billions were liquidated. As head of OKX, Star observes that the market’s microstructure altered in that moment. The room grew still, as if listening to the rails of a train that had refused to slow.

Xu contends that Binance nudged users toward converting USDT and USDC into USDe, without warnings, giving USDe its hedge-fund-like risk and a habit-forming appetite for leverage. He says USDe became a frequent sight in collateral, a loop of risk feeding on itself when the market trembled.

Industry Divisions Emerge Over Causes of the $19B Wipeout

Wintermute’s Evgeny Gaevoy, though, warns against nursing a single scapegoat. Blaming one exchange is not logic; it is the breath of panic. Bear markets breed such scapegoats, yet the deeper fault lies in systemic leverage and missing liquidity-the teeth in the jaw of finance that gnaw at reason.

The event, dubbed “Crypto Black Friday,” stands as the largest erasure of leveraged positions in the annals. More than 19.1 billion vanished within a day, as if the market itself had coughed up its breath and forgotten the way back.

Analysts link the quake to macroeconomic tremors and actions of the exchanges themselves. A note from history-before the tremors, a political headline about tariffs and trade-illustrates how fear travels faster than facts. The idea of 100% tariffs on Chinese tech, proclaimed by a presidential figure-though in another era-was enough to damp the lamps of risk and set the market on a rapid deleveraging path. Bitcoin slid from the peak of fever to the chill of doubt, as if the air itself cooled with the conviction that leverage must be pared down.

Technical problems on centralized exchanges worsened selling pressure, and thin liquidity allowed the purge to spread its dark wings. Yet, even in the chorus of conflict, most observers agree that managing leverage is a fundamental trial for the industry. The call goes out for clearer risk disclosures and sturdier controls as the number of eyes watching the risk grows larger than the profit.

Zhao reiterates: Binance did not orchestrate, nor accelerate the cascade. The price action was the result of market-wide leverage and macro shocks-a story with many actors, not a solitary villain.

The episode stiffened regulatory nerves and tempered investor expectations in the land of digital assets. It forced a hard look at accountability and the exposure of systemic risk. As markets settle into a cautious hum, participants reexamine leverage, collateral structures, and the stubborn habit of assuming risk will stay asleep forever.

Legends of the crash vary, and the truth remains slippery. What endures is a lesson etched in the ledger: volatility teaches, but only slowly, and with a price paid in memory. The market, like a stubborn worker, resumes its labor, while the questions endure-the questions about risk, responsibility, and the human price of denial in a world of numbers.

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2026-01-31 10:15