Cathie Wood's Remarks Spark Rare Reputation Crisis for Binance and CZ
Wood's comments on a recent program, where she linked Bitcoin's decline to a $28 billion deleveraging event caused by a Binance software glitch on October 10, have sparked widespread criticism against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on social media platform X. Many KOLs are labeling CZ a "scammer," accusing him of a "collapsed public image" and facing a "backlash of influence."
The criticism primarily focuses on the "1011 event," where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashed, resulting in over $500 billion wiped from the global crypto market cap and more than $19 billion in leveraged positions liquidated. Mainstream opinion holds that Binance's abnormal liquidation mechanism was closely related to the incident, and the exchange later modified the price charts for some tokens.
Due to Wood's significant influence in both traditional finance and crypto, her remarks reignited painful memories of the 1011 event among investors, further aggravating sentiment in the already sluggish market. Early critics, including Leonidas, co-founder of Zap/Ord.io, and trader Anglio, sharply condemned CZ, calling him the "biggest fraud in human history" and blaming him for the massive liquidations.
The backlash, initially concentrated in English-language circles, eventually spread to Chinese communities on X, where influential figures also began criticizing Binance. OKX founder Star Xu commented that the incident caused real and lasting damage to the industry, urging leading companies to focus on strengthening infrastructure and building trust.
In response, CZ and Binance co-founder He Yi dismissed the criticisms as organized attacks and competitive smear campaigns. CZ pointed to coordinated negative posts, while He Yi framed the discussions as part of broader structural changes and industry conflicts. Some KOLs supported this view, suggesting Wood’s statements might reflect Western capital interests.
However, deflecting blame entirely onto competitors and "water army" attacks has further damaged user sentiment. In a bear market, investors often seek outlets for frustration, and as the industry's largest beneficiary, CZ has become a target for accumulated discontent over issues like token listing quality and ecosystem development. Yet, reducing him to the "industry's biggest scammer" overlooks market cycles, investor responsibility, and platform scale, which may not be entirely fair.
In the end, in this still-wild industry marked by high volatility and strong cycles, there is no pure "savior" nor perpetual "demon."
marsbit01/28 17:12
