CZ Slams Kevin O’Leary for Making ‘Baseless Attacks’ on Binance

With another kerfuffle forming across the Twitter crypto space, Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, the CEO of Binance, slammed Kevin O’Leary, a venture capitalist and a Shark Tank judge, after he made baseless attacks on Binance.

It seems $15m not only changed @kevinolearytv’s mind about crypto, it also made him align with a fraudster. Is he seriously defending SBF?https://t.co/JoKapOcMXr (baseless attacks start around 4:20).

A thread. 1/11

— CZ ? Binance (@cz_binance) December 9, 2022

Addressing the Shark Tank judge getting paid $15 million, Zhao criticized how O’Leary changed his stand on crypto and defended a “fraudster,” referring to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt FTX.

On CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” the Shark Tank judge claimed that the creator of FTX justified the majority of the cash being utilized to buy his shares from Binance, which owns 20% of FTX.

Highlighting the conversation, O’Leary said Bankman-Fried explained that whenever FTX applied for a license anywhere, the KYC got “jammed with Binance,” and the buying-back cost billions.

Continuing the Twitter thread, Zhao proved that Binance had left FTX last year. Ever since, FTX has invested in many companies, with a total investment valued at more than $5.5 billion.

The CEO of Binance pinpointed the many reckless spendings of FTX, stating:

On top of that, FTX spent money on Miami Stadium, multiple Super Bowl ads, baseball referees, F1, not to mention massive political donations, and luxury real estate. Oh, and reprehensible misuse of customer funds.

Moreover, Zhao explained that FTX was 1/10th of Binance’s size but spent more. The CEO of Binance stated that “100/1” costs of FTX were allotted to marketing and partnerships, parties, trips, and mansions for the many executives and senior staff, including his parents.

While there are still some communities blaming the CEO of Binance, Bankman-Fried is yet to stand trial in front of Congress. Though the FTX founder was called to participate in the hearing on December 13, Bankman-Fried stated that “I’m not sure that will happen by the 13th. But when it does, I will testify.”

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