Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao are accused of unfair competition and the collapse of FTX
A class action lawsuit has been initiated against the popular crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao — they are accused of unfair competition and the planned destruction of the FTX platform. The lawsuit was filed by Northern California resident Nir Lahav.
According to the plaintiff, Binance was trying to become a monopolist in the cryptocurrency market. The company wanted to undermine FTX as a competitor, which eventually went bankrup
The lawsuit states that it was Zhao’s tweets about the sale of FTX’s internal token, FTT, which appeared in the fall of 2022, that influenced the company’s collapse. Lahav believes that Zhao’s messages were written not only to mislead crypto market players. They were published with malicious intent, since Binance sold its FTT even before the messages appeared, and statements about the sale were made in order to collapse the rate of the crypto coin.
From the tweets of the head of Binance, it can be concluded that FTX was allegedly secretly campaigning against other crypto companies, and this gives the impression of poorly hidden aggression against the ex-CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried, Lahav believes. The plaintiffs believe that Zhao did this more than once; such incidents were part of a strategy to destabilize the bankrupt platform.
Lahav also recalled a significant drop in the value of FTT from $23.15 to $3.14 after messages from the head of Binance, which subsequently led to the collapse of FTX. The company’s top managers began to panic, having no leverage to influence the situation, the lawsuit says.
Lahav believes that Binance should compensate investors for damages, pay legal costs and return ill-gotten profits. The plaintiff also believes that more crypto industry participants will join the class action.
Binance is currently suing the SEC, which previously accused the company of violating securities laws. Recently, the media also wrote that the US Department of Justice has been conducting an investigation into Binance for a year, which could result in multi-billion-dollar fines for the company.
