CZ may be king of all he surveys. As the dust settles on a wild few weeks in crypto, it seems that Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the overlord of Binance, has claimed the Iron Throne of crypto. Binance is now the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume.
Will CZ be able to keep himself in the hot seat? Let’s take a look at CZ’s boss moves in the race to be the crypto alpha.
FTX killer boss moves
One of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, went into bankruptcy last week. In crypto circles, it is thought that the death of FTX was sealed when CZ tweeted about FTX.
CZ microblogged that Binance was backing away from its investment in FTX’s native token, FTT. This was due to “recent revelations that have come to light”.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who ran FTX, was able to hide his shoddy books no longer. In fact, he didn’t have books. At all. He had been carrying on fraudulent activities and turned FTX into a financial hellscape.
As FTX crumbled into a heap of crushed dreams, CZ made the move to acquire FTX. And, FTX tried desperately to spin the takeover as a win.
In a mega-cringe fangirling post, SBF thanked CZ for saving his butt.
At this stage, no one knew that FTX was unsalvageable. Except, probably, CZ.
A kingdom burns
If CZ suspected how cooked the books were, was he really ever going to buy FTX? Or was it just an alpha move to make the chink in SBF’s armour into a full mortal wound?
It was a boss move, like the capture of Winterfell — a turning point in the War of Five Kings. Now, there was one less king.
CZ would go on to announce that he wasn’t going to take on FTX after seeing the state it was in. The Binance overlord wasn’t touching it with a bargepole. Or a Hazmat suit covered in bleach. The mess was way too big for any army to conquer. The FTX kingdom was to be left to burn to the ground, taking the funds of the subjects with it.
CZ King Moves
It is thought that CZ and SBF started out as friends with a sporting interest in being competitive. Binance even invested in FTX, to “further the cryptocurrency ecosystem”. However, as the initial respect for each other crumbled, things got ugly.
SBF soon whined that his attempt at the Iron Throne of crypto was over.
As the last remnants of FTX smouldered, CZ made sure that he seemed like a good and fair overlord, who cared about his people. All the while, turning the knife in SBF.
CZ said in a tweet, “Every time a major player in an industry fails, retail consumers will suffer. We have seen over the last several years that the crypto ecosystem is becoming more resilient, and we believe in time that outliers that misuse user funds will be weeded out by the free market”.
After crushing rival FTX, CZ is now estimated to be worth around US$18 billion.
Changpeng Zhao and Rebellion
CZ of Binance may now be the reigning overlord of crypto but rebellion is imminent. Eyeing up his next competitor, Coinbase, he composed a tweet that questioned Coinbase’s Bitcoin holdings. As it turned out, CZ got his information from a news outlet that had reported incorrect figures.
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, responded with a series of tweets, implying that CZ was just spraying FUD all over everyone.
CZ has since deleted his tweet and apologised.
This has made many feel that it was a power play, a ruse to stab another crypto king in the heart.
Will this crypto king maintain his throne? Just remember that in the end, the youngest and weakest player, Arya Stark Kills the Night King.
There is still room for CZ to yet be dethroned. We will keep you up to date.
