Would Binance have exacerbated the situation when FTX showed signs of fragility? At least that’s what Nir Lahav and his gang think, who did not hesitate to file a class action lawsuit accusing CZ and Binance of having contributed to the downfall of their competitor due to their November tweets.
Class action lawsuit filed against Binance and CZ
American regulators have often had Binance in their crosshairs, but this time they are residents who file complaints against the main exchange platform crypto.
On October 2, California resident Nir Lahav deposit a class action lawsuit in the District Court of Northern California against Binance.US and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The main allegations relate to violations of federal and California unfair competition laws, arguing that Binance attempted to monopolize the crypto market by harming its competitor, FTX.
CZ’s tweets: Central element of the affair
The central element of this case concerns the tweets published by Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on X in November last. These tweets were published alongside Binance’s decision to liquidate its stakes in utility token FTX FTT. According to the plaintiffs, Binance held up to 5% of all FTT tokens.
In a tweet, CZ announced that Binance signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX, but backed out of the deal a day later. The plaintiffs claim that CZ spread this information on Twitter to harm FTX, which would have precipitated its collapse. As a result, FTT price reportedly dropped significantly from $23.1510 to $3.1468.
“ Zhao publicly released this information [sur le retrait de l’offre d’acquisition] on Twitter and other social media platforms to harm the FTX Entities, which ultimately led to a precipitous and unprecedented collapse of the FTX Entities“, declare the plaintiffs. »
Binance summoned to repair damage inflicted on FTX
FTX’s collapse was brutal, with the price of its FTT token falling significantly. The plaintiffs believe that this rapid decline plunged the FTX company into bankruptcy, without giving leaders the opportunity to save the situation.
Class action seeks monetary damagescourt costs and restitution of ill-gotten gains, alleging that there are thousands of members of the proposed class.
“Zhao’s tweet caused the price of TTF to drop from $23.1510 to $3.1468. This significant drop thus plunged FTX Entities into bankruptcy, leaving the management and board of directors of FTX Entities without the possibility of saving the situation or putting in place protective measures for their customers and end users. »
It is worth noting that Binance and FTX are already the subject of actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, is scheduled to begin on October 4 in New York. Although CZ denied any accusations of unfair competition at the time in a tweet, speculation continues to circulate within the crypto community.
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