Meet Changpeng Zhao, the crypto billionaire behind Binance

However, Zhao’s journey on Binance was far from smooth sailing. The company has been embroiled in several controversies.

According to The New York Times, about $570 million worth of cryptocurrencies traded on Binance were stolen in a blockchain hack in October. In his October interview with CNBC, Zhao said no users lost money in the attack and that “no software code is bug free.” The Binance hack is one of the biggest cryptocurrency hacks in history.

In a blog post, Binance said that in the event of a future hack, validators will decide whether to freeze the hacked funds. This decision is made through a series of “on-chain governance votes” (systems that govern and implement blockchain changes). Binance added that it would also consider implementing a “bug bounty system” to encourage users to report bugs.

“Nearly $570 million was minted and stolen by hackers, and $100 million was left uncollected and taken off-chain by hackers. No users or user funds were affected,” Mustajab said. says.

Binance has also been criticized for its relationship with China. Binance will delist only Chinese yuan-based trading pairs on its exchange in 2021, serving Chinese customers for several years, according to a September article on Protoss. banned virtual currency-related transactions.

Zhao responded to these allegations in a blog post published in September, revealing that Binance was never incorporated in China, and that it “culturally operates like a Chinese company.” said not. He added, “I’m a Canadian citizen.”

Binance has also sparked controversy by allowing Iran-based users to trade cryptocurrencies on its exchange despite sanctions imposed by the United States, according to a July report by Reuters. We notified Iranian traders to liquidate their accounts in November 2018, but seven traders continued to use their accounts after the ban until September 2021. Binance did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment at the time.