Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has forcefully denied allegations that Binance secretly profited by hedging client risk on BitMEX during the March 2020 crash, dismissing the claim of over 60,000 BTC in gains as “fake news” and technically unfeasible.
CZ: ‘Binance never traded on BitMEX’
Responding to a viral post from Flood, CEO of fullstack_trade on Hyperliquid, CZ wrote: “4. Fake news. They just making things up randomly now. Not sure what their goal is. I feel bad for the people believing this without seeing any proof.” He stressed that “Binance never traded on BitMex” and tagged BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes to highlight a key operational constraint: “BitMex processes withdrawals only once a day.” That structure would have made real-time hedging of that magnitude effectively impossible, CZ argued.
Commentator Murtuza J. Merchant agreed: “BitMEX’s once-a-day withdrawal window back in 2020 made it impossible for an exchange to use it for a real-time hedge of that size. No entity would trap 60,000 BTC in a manual multi-sig during a black swan crash.” He suggested the “60k figure is likely just a garbled memory of old” market anecdotes.
BitMEX confirms no records of alleged flows
BitMEX itself has confirmed it has no records supporting the alleged flows, noting its upgrade from once-daily batched withdrawals to real-time payouts as part of broader infrastructure changes since 2020. Not everyone accepted the “fake news” framing; critic Broly countered that “Binance has had a major role in every major downfall of crypto,” citing FTX and LUNA episodes. The episode is widely seen as another round of competitive FUD, illustrating how opaque cross-exchange flows and incomplete memories can solidify into conspiracy narratives.
Market context
Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $68,280, with a recent 24-hour range between roughly $64,760 and $71,450. Ethereum (ETH) trades near the low-$2,000 band, with prediction markets clustering key levels between $1,940 and $2,100. Solana (SOL) changes hands around $78–81, roughly flat on the session.