Changpeng Zhao “CZ,” the founder and CEO of Binance, has taken a jab at Kevin O’Leary in response to an interview that O’Leary gave to CNBC in which he appeared to defend SBF despite the fact that O’Leary lost millions of dollars due to the collapse of SBF’s exchange. CZ’s comment was made in response to an article published by CNBC.
As reported by CryptoPolitan on Dec. 8, Kevin O’Leary revealed that he had lost nearly $11 million of the $15 million that FTX had paid him as a spokesperson because he had invested it in the company and had millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency in his FTX account, which was wiped clean after the exchange’s failure a month ago.
CZ on why Binance exited FTX a year ago
Although Binance was an early investor in FTX, the business announced in July 2021 that it would no longer be involved with the exchange. Since that time, as CZ said, FTX has made investments in a wide variety of businesses that add up to more than $5.5 billion.
In addition to this, FTX wasted money on the Miami Stadium, various advertisements during the Super Bowl, baseball officials, and Formula One, not to mention large political contributions and luxury real estate, as well as unethical usage of client funds.
Worse than losing $15M, you’d think that being used as the poster child for one of the greatest financial crimes in history would make Kevin O’Leary think twice before taking Sam at his word AGAIN.
Changpeng Zhao
CZ went on to explain that, in contrast to O’Leary, he and his organization continue to do thorough research even after they have made an investment.
They were an early investor in FTX; but, as their level of unease with Alameda/SBF increased, they decided to begin the process of selling their shares and parting with the exchange over a year ago.
According to the CEO of Binance, SBF was so irrational when they chose to withdraw as an investor that the CEO of SBF unleashed a series of insulting tirades at numerous members of the company’s staff, including threatening to go to unusual measures to make them pay for their actions. Zhao has confirmed that they still have the text messages.
CZ says he was attacked mainly for his ethnicity by SBF
Shortly after their little disagreement over Binance’s decision to stop working with them, SBF started “investing” in people in influential positions, including members of the media, legislators, and even celebrities like Kevin O’Leary.
And he used that network to sway public opinion, including launching attacks on Zhao and other people working in the business, according to him.
According to the head of Binance, O’Leary desires to continue such assaults in the media, and it is possible that he will repeat them during the Senate hearing that will take place next week. It seems that CZ’s ethnicity was a target of those attacks.
CZ pointed out that it didn’t take a genius to see that FTX was messed up. They were one-tenth the size of Binance but spent one hundred times as much on advertising and “partnerships,” lavish parties in the Bahamas, international travel, and residences for all of their top executives (including SBF’s parents).
Before ending his Twitter rant, Zhao suggested that O’Leary point the finger at his investment partner Sam Bankman-Fried and, if that doesn’t work, at himself in the mirror if he still can’t find anybody to blame for FTX’s demise.
