Binance CEO Denies Selling Bitcoin: 'We Even Still Have A Bag Of FTT'

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as "CZ' on Tuesday pushed back against speculations that the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange sold its Bitcoin BTC/USD holdings.

What Happened: In a tweet on Tuesday, Zhao refuted the claims, stating that “Binance have not sold BTC or BNB.”

He added that the idea that millions of traders could be accurately identified as sellers by merely looking at a price chart was unfounded fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) fueled mongering — or as Zhao points out as ‘4'.

"Binance have not sold BTC or BNB. We even still have a bag of FTT (FTX’s native token). It is amazing they can know exactly who sold based on just a price chart involving millions of traders. FUD," he tweeted.

Earlier on November 7, Zhao said his company will liquidate its entire holding of the native token of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, over ” revelations that have come to light,” and that he would not support people who "lobby" against other industry players behind their backs.

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Why It Matters: The statement from Zhao comes as the exchange confronts a legal dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over allegations of major legal violations and malfeasance at its Binance.US branch. The regulator is seeking a full asset freeze on the exchange’s operations in the United States.

In an attempt to avoid a complete freeze, the two sides have been asked by a judge to work out a deal.

Last week, Binance US said that it will halt deposits and withdrawals in dollars, signaling a shift towards being a crypto-only trading platform. Customers have been advised to withdraw their US dollar holdings by June 13, according to notices circulated by the exchange on Thursday.

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $26,025, down 0.14% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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