Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Slams SBF and FTX!

The CEO of the largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, blasted the previous leader of the defunct exchange FTX and took aim at economist Nouriel Roubini.

Changpeng Zhao, also known by his stage as “CZ,” was asked to comment on a tweet by Sam Bankman-Fried that made reference to a “sparring partner,” who was mainly assumed to be CZ. Sam Bankman-Fried was speaking at the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit on Thursday.

“He’s losing attention when he tweets about a sparring partner, his house is on fire, and all of this is going on. We would have sold those FTT tokens a long time ago if I had known this issue existed in FTX, he admitted to CNBC’s Dan Murphy.

“He should have been working on other things on that day when he tweeted that. He has no business tweeting.

Zhao also provided more information regarding Binance’s Nov. 9 decision to back out of a deal to save competing exchange FTX.

To be clear, [Bankman-Fried] approached me. I could see he was in trouble when he came to me. Therefore, it’s likely that many other parties rejected the agreement before us, Zhao said on Thursday.

We quickly realized that the problems [at FTX] were more worse than we had anticipated, he continued.

Zhao said that he would defer to others in making that determination regarding the former FTX CEO’s guilt or innocence, but that he “[understood] there have been lies and there has been misuse of people’s funds,” which he termed as “fraud.”

Zhao stated that when he learned of Bankman-actions, Fried’s he was “extremely astonished” in a separate interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.

“I’m surprised he lied to everyone. Up until a week ago, I was unaware that he had lied to everyone, Zhao stated.

FTX and Bankman-Fried have been contacted by CNBC for a response to the comments, but so far, no response has been received.

#shorts #cz #crypto