Breaking: Binance CEO Says Exchange Holds 3 Mln LUNA and 10 Mln UST

Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao reversed course on Monday to clarify that the world’s largest exchange did hold the recently-crashed LUNA and UST tokens.

Contradicting his earlier comments, CZ said Binance holds 3 million LUNA  tokens, and 10 million UST tokens, the former of which it had received for an initial investment in Terra. None of the tokens were ever moved or traded.

The 10 million UST was generated and earned through staking activities by the exchange. At peak value, Binance held about $1.6 billion in LUNA, and $12 million in UST.

Additionally, CZ said Binance will now push Terra into repaying its smallest holders, a move that the Luna Foundation Guard said it intends to do.

Binance Does Hold Terra’s UST

Binance had invested $3 million in the Terra project during the first fundraising round. However, the company didn’t take part in the second fundraising round. In response to rumors circulating on Twitter that Binance had invested largely in Terra’s UST. Binance CEO “CZ” said:

Binance received 15,000,000 LUNA (at peak worth $1.6 billion USD, now not much) as part of the original ($3m) invest. 560x return at peak. It still sits on the address we received at. Never moved or sold.

He has also suggested that the Terra team should be buying back or burning tokens instead of forking and minting. He believes forking and minting will not help revive UST.

In response to CZ’s tweet, users appreciated the transparency of the Binance exchange and team. Moreover, claiming transparency as the reason behind Binance’s success in becoming the world’s largest crypto exchange in daily trades.

Initially, CZ had downplayed speculation that Binance major exposure to LUNA:

“We probably do have some from trading fees. Probably valued close to 0 now. (Think of it as free trading in the past, haha). This just wasn’t on my mind. Not how we prioritize things. Users first.”

LUNA and UST Still Under Pressure

Even after a week of LUNA and UST tumble, Terraform Labs hasn’t been able to revive or come up with a better proposal. At the time of writing, the LUNA price is trading at $0.00023, and the UST price is $0.16.

Meanwhile, Vitalik Buterin supports that Terraform Labs should protect small investors of UST and LUNA.