Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Lashes Out At 'FUD' Over Executive Exodus, Says Company Has No Liquidity Issues

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Lashes Out At ‘FUD’ Over Executive Exodus, Says Company Has No Liquidity Issues

Updated: 08 September 2023

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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao lashed out at negative news and rumours about the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, dismissing them as “FUD” and providing an assurance that the company has no liquidity issues.

His comments on the social medial platform X come as an exodus of top executives from the firm gathers pace, with four departures this week bringing the total to 10 since July. Lawsuits brought against the firm, its exits from some markets and product closures also are behind the ‘FUD,’ he said.

Saw some debates in the community. When you do the right thing, and there is FUD, you don't have to do anything. The community defends you.

Let me summarize. There have been a lot of negative news/rumors, bank runs, lawsuits, closing of fiat channels, product wind downs,…

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) September 7, 2023

Zhao didn’t address the reasons for the departures of the executives directly but hit back by saying, ”Binance probably also have the lowest founding team turnover of any tech startup of our size and age, in the world.”

He went on to defend the exchange ”against debates in the community,” saying that withdrawals and deposits are properly handled and that customer accounts are 100% backed by a reserve fund.

“There are also: won court cases, bank run handled and then record deposits, new fiat channels, smooth sunsetting of old products and launching of new products, new hires, new markets,” he said.

Binance Staff Exodus

The exodus of top executives began on July 6 with the departures of chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann, general counsel Han Ng, global vice president of marketing and communications Steve Milton, head of global investigations and intelligence Matthew Price. The next day, senior vice president for compliance Steven Christie joined the list and in August Asia Pacific chief Leon Foong was out.

This week saw the departures of product lead Mayur Kamat, president of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the CIS, Gleb Kostarev, general manager for Russia and CIS Vladimir Smerkis, and executive vice president and head of global fiat Helen Hai.

Earlier, Zhao had tweeted that some of the executives had left for bigger roles in other companies and said staff turnover is common in every company.

Fortune reported that the exodus was sparked in part by disquiet within the company about the way Zhao has handled an investigation into the exchange by the US Department of Justice.

According to Fortune, Binance General Counsel Hon Ng, Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann, and Senior Vice President of Compliance Steven Christie will leave their jobs due to the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. https://t.co/kJepk3fvdY

CZ: there is…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 7, 2023

In response, CZ tweeted that some of the members had grown into bigger roles within the company while others had left for bigger roles in other companies. Despite these assertions, the crypto community has become skeptical about the company’s health hence the rumors.

Some of our team members are growing into bigger roles, some outside of #Binance. Some are doing new exciting ventures. I even made intros/references for many of them. We are supportive of everyone. We are one community.

This also creates more growth opportunities within…

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) September 6, 2023