Sam Bankman-Fried A 'Psychopath,' Says Binance CEO Chanpeng Zhao

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Thursday referred to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried as a "psychopath" after Bankman-Fried suggested in a tweet that Zhao was his "sparring partner" amid the cryptocurrency exchange’s financial collapse. 

Zhao was speaking at an event held by the economic think tank Milken Institute in Abu Dhabi.

The Binance, FTX Relationship: On Nov. 6, Zhao tweeted that he was going to liquidate all of Binance's FTT FTT/USD holdings, the native tokens of FTX, in light of "recent revelations" that Bankman-Fried was lobbying "against other industry participants behind their backs."

This was the beginning of FTX’s liquidity crisis in the public eye. 

Also read: Chainalysis Is A Creditor In FTX Bankruptcy Case: What's Next?

The post sparked a liquidity crunch as FTX users flocked to withdraw money from the exchange.

A staggering $6 billion that left FTX during the course of 72 hours stood in contrast to the "tens of millions" of withdrawals that were typically processed by FTX each day.

Additionally, it revealed FTX's inability to fulfill the withdrawal requests.

Zhao's Latest Comments: “When he (Bankman-Fried) reached out to me, I thought he was going to ask for an OTC deal to buy the FTT tokens, and in this way, we sort of silence the noise in the market. But when he called me, he very quickly alluded that they are in big trouble. They’re looking for a buyout,” Zhao said.

Asked to respond to a tweet in which the disgraced FTX founder said he and “CZ,” as Zhao is popularly known in the crypto industry, are “sparring partners,” the Binance CEO said: “I think only a psychopath can write that tweet.

“He never told me I was his sparring partner. I’m actually not sure if that’s even tweeted at me,” he added.

Asked who else the tweet could be attributed to, he said, “we can guess.”

Zhao asserted that neither he nor Binance view other exchanges as rivals, saying that building up the industry — which he stated is still in its infancy — is more effective than attempting takeovers

“We have not even reached 1% adoption. We can grow the industry 100x,” Zhao said and added that FTX should have worked to "grow the industry and not lobby against other players.”

In 2019, Binance acquired a 20% stake in FTX by investing $100 million in the crypto exchange.

Read Next: New FTX Chief Appalled By Mismanagement At Crypto Exchange Under Sam Bankman-Fried

Image created with photo from Binance.com.