11 Dec 2022
Binance token price fluctuations are not hack-related, says CZ
Binance published a notice about unusual price movements for some trading pairs on December 11. As a result, the exchange launched an investigation to identify the suspicious accounts that were the cause of the problem.
Currency exchange Binance started looking into suspicious activity on its platform after observing unusual price movements for some trading pairs involving the tokens Sun Token (SUN), Ardor (ARDR), Osmosis (OSMO), FUNToken (FUN), and Golem (GLM).
Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao stated that the price movements “appears to be just market behavior” after nearly 40 minutes of research.
Binance published a notice about unusual price movements for some trading pairs on December 11 at 3:10 AM ET. The exchange launched an investigation to identify the suspicious accounts that were the problem. To the investors' relief, Binance's investigation found no evidence of compromised accounts or stolen API keys.
In CZ’s words:
"One guy deposited funds and started buying. (Hackers don’t deposit). Other guys followed. Can’t see linkage between the accounts."
The exchange did, however, take preventative action against potential manipulation. Some accounts that earned profits during the volatility had their withdrawals temporarily blocked, which according to CZ, sparked complaints on social media. The concerns about centralization and corporate intervention during similar situations were further addressed by CZ, who said,
“There is a balance to how much we should intervene.”
When questioned about the potential for manipulative trades to be executed using compromised or stolen accounts, CZ clarified that Binance actively monitors such accounts, adding that:
"If you leave your account details with a 3rd party platform that gets hacked, and the hacker is cautious in using it, it can be hard to detect on our side. But we try."
Binance has affirmed that it will update investors as soon as ongoing investigations turn up new details about recent price swings.
CZ stated at the Indonesia Fintech Summit 2022 that the cryptocurrency industry was set back by a few years due to the evil intentions of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
“I think basically we've been set back a few years now. Regulators rightfully will scrutinize this industry much, much harder, which is probably a good thing, to be honest,” CZ emphasized the episode was catastrophic for the business.
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