Billionaire crypto exchange Binance creator Changpeng Zhao highlighted that he is “poor again” after his holdings in Luna crashed down and are now worth just $2,200.
Changpeng Zhao, the leader of the Binance exchange, had some fun on Twitter and said that he was “poor again” after the Luna cryptocurrency crashed.
Well, no kidding. While the CEO didn’t lose his whole wealth, the losses his exchange faced due to the crash of Luna and Terra’s UST stable coin is concerning. The leader expressed that Luna holdings owned by Binance, once worth $1.6 billion, are now worth only around $2,200 or less.
However, Binance remains the largest exchange in the crypto sector. But the amount lost by the conversation highlights how the crash impacted those who owned the crypto. Thousands of people have stated that they lost all their investments.
15 Million Tokens
On Twitter, Zhao said that Binance had 15 million Luna tokens. He said that Binance invested $3 million in 2018 in the Terra de Luna network and received tickets. The leader also added that his Luna tokens were never migrated or sold in the market. He further highlighted that at this same address, he has at least $12,000,000 UST of staking over time. Also, it was never moved or sold.
Moon Fall
Binance’s Luna holdings got valued at $1.6 billion in early April at the peak price of the LUNA token, which, according to CryptoMarkets, reached $119.15 on April 5. According to data brought by media outlets, the coin managed to trade at $0.00014.
Luna’s crash began when its sister token, the stable coin terra USD, lost its attachment to the US dollar; The valuations of the two items have connections with each other. When the price of Terra crashed down, investors rushed to dump their holdings in a scenario similar to a bank run. The drop in TerraUSD, in turn, dragged down Luna’s price. Although Terra’s creator attempted to rescue her, he was unable to save her from collapse.
The freefall of the two tokens should have disintegrated more than $50 billion in paper value. Zhao expressed through Twitter that the Terra team needs to repay its retail investors firstly. He tweeted that Binance will let this slide and ask the Terra project team to compensate retail users first, Binance last, if ever.
Zhao, 45, is not poor despite his stance on the subject. Bloomberg yesterday registered a net worth valued at $14.8 billion. According to Forbes, most of his wealth probably gets fed by its 70% stake in Binance.
Fortune reported that Binance’s market value could be six times that of its closest competitor, Coinbase. A report highlighted by financial services consultancy Opimas stated that Binance received around $14.6 billion in trading fees last year, MarketWatch reported.
By: Jenson Nuñez
