Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao dismissed concerns over the possibility that Binance can handle a possible $2.1 billion clawback of an FTX divestment during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Zhao is an early shareholder in FTX and also the in-failure founder of Sam Bankman Fried. But their relationship had cooled after FTX increased its market share and became more competitive.

Binance sold its stake in FTX shortly before the time of bankruptcy.

Binance’s Chairman Changpeng “CZ” Zhao dismissed the possibility that his company might be liable for having $2.1 billion of its assets clawed back due to the bankruptcy process of FTX during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” as well as stating that he was confident in his legal team to manage the bankruptcy process.

CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin and Becky Quick asked Zhao to clarify whether it anticipated receiving the $2.1 billion in payments from FTX, the amount that Binance gained when it resigned its Series A investment in 2019 through FTX as well as bankruptcy trustees, who will try to recover any fraudulent transactions from FTX to other businesses or investors.

“Would your ability to take it if you were asked for $2.1 billion?” Quick asked him.

“We are financially stable,” Zhao said, refusing to give a definitive answer.

Suppose bankruptcy proceedings establish that the payment was made under fraud, or the individual could reasonably realize that the transaction is fraudulent. In that case, any beneficiary in the two-year timeframe may be eligible to get their gains refunded by the trustee according to the U.S. bankruptcy code.

“Are you ready to pay the money?” Sorkin asked Zhao.

“I believe we should leave this to our lawyers. I believe that the legal department is equipped to handle this,” Zhao responded before shifting the focus towards FTX’s documented spending habits.

Zhao explained to Sorkin that the payment comprised BUSD FTT, BNB and USD tokens. Zhao stated that the FTT portion of the cost was significant, but it was the case that they had “forgotten” about it.

“We have very strong revenues,” Zhao said.

‘99% of People’ Will Lose Crypto Storing in Self-Custody: Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

“Holding your own cryptocurrency in your wallet isn’t risk-free,” said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao during a Twitter discussion today.

Chief of Binance Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said that users would be more likely to lose their crypto when they keep them in a cold account rather than on a central exchange.

“For the majority of people, for the vast majority of the people who are asking for them to keep cryptocurrency on their own is a risk is likely to result in losing the currency,” he said in an online Twitter Space discussion held on Wednesday.

The exchange’s chief executive spoke only a few hours after the news came out that he had advised his employees to be prepared for a “bumpy” few months ahead. He declared that his business was “neutral” regarding whether its users would prefer to keep their cryptocurrency or place it on an exchange. However, he said that practicalities could make self-custody unattainable for a lot of.

“Most people aren’t able to save their security keys or they’ll lose their gadget,” he said. “They don’t be able to secure their backups. They’ll write it down on the paper, but someone else could look at it, and are able to steal the funds. Also, today, fundamentally, when a person dies, they don’t have the option of transferring their assets to their family members. There is an operating procedure that is standard for this.”

CZ stated that those who can technically safely hold crypto should do it. However, he said that the practice has its problems.

“I always strive to help educate people so that they are aware of the dangers,” he said. “Holding your own cryptocurrency in your wallet isn’t safe; in fact, I think that more people lose money when they have their own crypto. They also lose more when they’re on their own than they do on the exchanges that are centralizedcentralized.”

Business as usual” at Binance

The demise of Binance’s rival FTX and the subsequent revelations regarding its financial condition triggered the community’s revival of the motto “not your keys but your money”.

The term refers to the idea that crypto stored with anything other than your private keys is not legally yours.

In the last week, Binance is witnessing billions removed from its platform as investors’ confidence is affected by the ongoing aftermath of the FTX crash. CZ has maintained that the business is “business as normal.”

He also said that the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried impacted the market mood.

“With the arrest of Sam Bankman Fried I think people tend to generalizegeneralize. In other words, if you’re injured from one particular bank you’ll assume that all the institutions are also bad. In the event that one political figure is corrupt you believe that all politicians are corrupt,” he added. “But the truth is that just because one institution is not good doesn’t mean that all banks are also bad. Just that one politician is unpopular does not mean all the other politicians are either.”

If asked to be in D.C. if invited to give testimony in front of congress, CZ said he is adamant about not travelling to his home country of the U.S. to draw attention to the difference between Binance.com and the Binance U.S. business.

“I’m very busy traveling to numerous other countries. However, I’m certainly not opposed to going towards America. U.S.; I think that the U.S. is great, I love the country but, you know I’m busy with different priorities.”

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