The Binance Playbook: Why Crypto Twitter Hates the Biggest Exchange?

Crypto Twitter has reignited intense criticism against Binance and co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), fueled by allegations surrounding a major market crash on October 10th, dubbed "Crypto Black Friday." This crash, which saw over $19 billion in leveraged positions liquidated following US tariff announcements, led to user reports of frozen accounts and failed stop-loss orders on Binance, alongside de-pegging events for assets like USDe and wBETH. While Binance attributed system delays to "heavy market activity" and compensated affected users, critics, including industry figures like Cathie Wood and OKX founder Star Xu, argue the crash caused lasting damage to the crypto ecosystem, suggesting manipulation or negligence.

Further scrutiny emerged from traders alleging specific wrongdoing, such as Binance manipulating liquidation timestamps and market makers potentially profiting from thin order books related to upcoming asset pricing updates. One trader later retracted an accusation after reviewing Binance's logs, which showed no system errors for their specific API orders.

In response to the resurfaced backlash in January 2026, which included accusations of CZ promoting a flawed "buy and hold" strategy while tokens listed on Binance declined, Binance announced plans to convert its $1 billion SAFU fund entirely into Bitcoin. CZ dismissed the renewed criticism as familiar FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) and promised to address it, emphasizing that the exchange continues to invest in security and compliance, despite the ongoing erosion of trust in centralized exchanges.

(Source：BeInCrypto)