The CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange is speaking out against Sam Bankman-Fried, claiming the disgraced founder of FTX is a ‘fraudster’.
In a long thread, Changpeng Zhao said that Binance pulled out of its investments in FTX over a year and a half ago when something seemed off about the former CEO of the crypto exchange and its sister company Alameda Research.
“As an early investor in FTX, we became increasingly uncomfortable with Alameda and [Bankman-Fried] and started the exit process over a year and a half ago.
Sam was so off balance when we decided to pull out as an investor that he launched a series of offensive tirades against several members of the Binance team, including threatening to make “extraordinary efforts to make us pay “- we still have those text messages”.
According to Zhao, it was obvious that something was wrong with FTX when he noticed that Bankman-Fried’s company was spending a huge amount of money, even overtaking Binance, a company much bigger than the crypto exchange in bankruptcy.
“You don’t have to be a genius to know something [didn’t] just smell at FTX. They were 1/10th our size, but spent 100/1 of us on marketing and “partnerships”, fancy parties in the Bahamas, trips around the world and mansions for all their senior executives (and his parents). ”
Zhao also interviews prominent venture capitalist and former FTX spokesperson Kevin O’Leary, asking how he could continue to defend a “fraudster” like Bankman-Fried.
“It seems $15 million not only changed Kevin O’Leary’s mind about crypto, but also made him align with a fraudster. Is he seriously defending Bankman-Fried?
Bankman-Fried caught wind of Zhao’s comments and replied, saying that Binance had no right to withdraw from its FTX investments.
“You won, [Zhao].
There is no need to lie. Now, about the redemption. We have entered into discussions around your acquisition, and we decided to do so because it was important for our company. And even though I was frustrated with your “bargaining” tactics, I chose to keep doing it.
You threatened to leave at the last minute if we didn’t inject about $75 million more. We did it anyway because it just made us feel more confident that we didn’t want Binance on our cap table. But again, none of this is necessary. You won. Why are you lying about it now?
Among other things, as you know, you weren’t even allowed to exit as an investor unless we chose to buy you out – a large portion of the tokens/equity was still locked.
Zhao retortsaying that in the end, “nobody won”.
“Sam, not that it matters now. You also can’t force us to sell if we don’t want to. Also, we have veto power to block any other fundraising you were doing. Never used or mentioned It was never a competition or a fight.
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Mia Stendal/Nikelser Kate