The "1011 Flash Crash" public relations battle intensifies, with OKX explicitly pointing fingers at Binance for the first time, while CZ accuses the competitor of hiring a troll army to spread FUD.

January 31st — Early this morning, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) addressed recent market FUD, stating the "1011 Flash Crash" was not caused by any Binance system issue or operational error. Binance is currently properly regulated and has no motive for misconduct. No website or trading platform can guarantee 100% uptime, and user terms clearly note such scenarios may occur with no platform liability. While Binance did face minor system performance issues during peak hours, it has handled compensation for related losses well. Later, OKX founder Star took to social media to address the recent implications, explicitly calling on Binance to take responsibility for the first time. Star claimed the "1011 Flash Crash" stemmed from Binance’s irresponsible USDe activities: the exchange encouraged users to convert USDT and USDC to USDe for attractive returns but failed to adequately highlight underlying risks, ultimately leading to a minor market shock that triggered a broader collapse. Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy appeared to align more with Binance’s response, stating the "1011 Flash Crash" was clearly not a software failure — rather, it was a high-leverage market flash crash sparked by macro news on a low-liquidity Friday evening. "No one likes a bear market, but blaming a single exchange is not entirely honest from a cognitive standpoint," he said. Solana co-founder Toly retweeted OKX Star’s post and added a somewhat sarcastic note: "Only 18 months have passed since [the FTX crash] — SOL rebounded to 2021 bull market levels 18 months after FTX’s collapse." Meanwhile, Binance CEO He Yi personally responded to community questions, noting that the whale (Wintermute) has a better understanding of what happened at the time and more authority to speak on it. He mentioned meeting Star in December 2025, with no mention of the 1011 incident, and added that Star is now frequently causing trouble. In an AMA, CZ also noted recent instances of competitors hiring "water armies" to spread malicious FUD. Additionally, some users who did not suffer losses during the 1011 event are pressuring Binance for compensation, though these voices remain a minority.