Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao: With Tether ‘Concern is Always There’

During a recent conference in South Korea, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao responded to questions about the company’s relationship with controversial stablecoin Tether. He acknowledged that “concern is always there,” according to regional reporting. Binance is one of the largest holders of Tether.

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Binance CEO Voices Concern Over Tether

According to Anca Faget of Romania-based Coindoo, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, responded to questions about the company’s relationship with controversial stablecoin Tether. One question came from Ran Neu-Ner who asked about the impact a Tether crash would have on Binance.

Mr. Zhao answered, “We have seen fiat currencies go down in history a lot. Probably more times than they have been in cryptocurrencies. So yes, the concern is always there and that’s also why we’re listing other stable coins as well, so we actively promote other stable coins including True USD and others.”

Binance launched in the summer of last year with an initial coin offering that raised around $15 million. It’s a cryptocurrency exchange, catering to a multi-language, international clientele. This year has been a busy one for the exchange. On its way to a very ambitious goal of earning $1 billion this year, Binance invested in a Maltese bank, is attempting to conquer the South Korean market, and recently teamed up with Libra Credit.

Tether and Bitfinex 

Mr. Neu-Her also asked about the connection between Tether and Bitfinex. Many in the ecosystem have long accused both of bitcoin price manipulation, with some actually attributing the entire price run-up of 2017 to Tether’s inflation (another study, however, came to the opposite conclusion).“I haven’t personally seen their bank accounts,” Mr. Zhao assured, “but from a logical point of view they have so many profits from their regular exchange business, they don’t need to do anything crazy about the Tethering. I think the reason they cannot release their bank account details is because if they release whichever bank they’re using, then the bank account gets shut down,” the CEO said at a Korea Blockchain event.

Ironically, accusations against Tether have slowed toward the middle of this year. When yet another study suggests a Tether collusion, this time between it and Kraken, the exchange took to its blog and blasted journalists whom it felt understood little how its business works. Last month Tether brought in an establishment figure to head its compliance division, perhaps in an effort to assuage future fears.