Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pushed back hard against a viral claim that the exchange secretly booked more than 60,000 BTC in hedge profits on BitMEX during the March 2020 liquidation cascade, calling the allegation “fake news.” The rumor, which originated in a post by Flood — CEO of fullstack_trade on the Hyperliquid platform — suggested Binance had hedged client flow on BitMEX and pocketed massive gains during the Covid‑era crash. CZ responded directly on social media, bluntly denying the story: “Binance never traded on BitMex,” he wrote, adding that the claim was being made up “randomly” and criticizing those who accepted it without evidence. He also tagged BitMEX co‑founder Arthur Hayes and pointed out a key operational constraint at the time: BitMEX processed withdrawals in a daily batched window, a setup that would have made real‑time risk‑hedging of that magnitude effectively impossible. Market commentators quickly echoed that point. Murtuza J. Merchant noted BitMEX’s once‑a‑day withdrawal cycle in 2020 would have prevented an exchange from using the venue as a live hedge for tens of thousands of BTC, and said the “60k” number looked more like a garbled memory of old market anecdotes than a traceable trade. BitMEX itself has since said it has no records supporting the alleged flows and highlighted that the platform has upgraded from batched daily withdrawals to real‑time payouts as part of broader infrastructure changes since 2020. Not everyone accepted the denial. A critic posting under the handle Broly argued Binance has been influential around several major market dislocations — citing the exchange’s role in the fallout from FTX, its involvement with LUNA prior to halted withdrawals, and other high‑profile events — and framed the episode as another example of Binance’s outsized impact. Observers on both sides called the episode emblematic of how opaque cross‑exchange flows, old grievances and incomplete recollection can harden into conspiracy narratives — particularly in a market that still often trades on screenshots, hearsay and rumor as much as audited records. Whatever the truth of the specific allegation, the exchange of claims and denials underscores a lingering culture of rumor‑driven warfare in crypto markets. Participants warned that competitive FUD and unclear historical records can inflame tensions and distract from verifiable analysis. Market snapshot: Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $68,280, trading in a roughly $64,760–$71,450 24‑hour range. Ethereum (ETH) sits in the low‑$2,000 band, with prediction markets clustering near $1,940–$2,100 in the near term. Solana (SOL) is changing hands around $78–$81, roughly flat after a modest pullback from recent highs. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

#BTC #CZ #ETH