Binance’s Changpeng Zhao: User assets can be protected by SAFU and other measures after Binance theft; industry will become safer
【Binance’s Changpeng Zhao: User assets can be protected by SAFU and other measures after Binance theft; industry will become safer】CoinChain News Flash reports: On November 9, the Nikkei reported that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said in an interview that, following the theft of a huge amount of company assets, user assets would be protected by measures including a customer protection fund. The interview was conducted online on October 21, with follow-up questions sent by email after the theft. Binance announced in late October that an estimated $6.3 billion in assets had been illicitly transferred. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the theft was carried out by a North Korean hacking group, and that the stolen assets had been laundered by converting them into other cryptocurrencies. Zhao said that hacker attacks are unavoidable, and what matters is how one responds when they happen. Binance has a Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), and he believes that even after this theft, user assets can still be protected through this mechanism, and that the industry will be more resilient as a result of the experience. Responding to criticism over money laundering, he said exchanges are subject to stricter regulation than banks and are capable of addressing the issue; blockchain transactions are also easy to trace and highly transparent. He also said that Japan’s planned 2027 implementation of a revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, which will classify virtual currencies as financial products, is a major development for the industry. Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and stepped down as CEO. He is now focused on the education platform Giggle Academy and has said he has no plans to return to running Binance.
【Binance’s Changpeng Zhao: User assets can be protected by SAFU and other measures after Binance theft; industry will become safer】CoinChain News Flash reports: On November 9, the Nikkei reported that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said in an interview that, following the theft of a huge amount of company assets, user assets would be protected by measures including a customer protection fund. The interview was conducted online on October 21, with follow-up questions sent by email after the theft. Binance announced in late October that an estimated $6.3 billion in assets had been illicitly transferred. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the theft was carried out by a North Korean hacking group, and that the stolen assets had been laundered by converting them into other cryptocurrencies. Zhao said that hacker attacks are unavoidable, and what matters is how one responds when they happen. Binance has a Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), and he believes that even after this theft, user assets can still be protected through this mechanism, and that the industry will be more resilient as a result of the experience. Responding to criticism over money laundering, he said exchanges are subject to stricter regulation than banks and are capable of addressing the issue; blockchain transactions are also easy to trace and highly transparent. He also said that Japan’s planned 2027 implementation of a revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, which will classify virtual currencies as financial products, is a major development for the industry. Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and stepped down as CEO. He is now focused on the education platform Giggle Academy and has said he has no plans to return to running Binance.