Binance CEO Richard Teng has issued a definitive rebuttal to allegations that a depegging of the USDe stablecoin on his platform triggered the massive market crash on October 10, 2025. Speaking at the Consensus Hong Kong conference, Teng directly addressed claims made by OKX CEO Star Xu, who had publicly blamed Binance's "leverage loops" and USDe marketing for the $19 billion liquidation event in crypto markets.
Teng argued the narrative is flawed, pointing to the broader macroeconomic reality of that day. He emphasized that while crypto lost billions, the U.S. equity market simultaneously evaporated $1.5 trillion in value. This followed President Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and China's restrictions on rare earth exports. According to Teng, the crash was a "system-wide macro shock" affecting every major exchange and asset class globally, not a localized failure of a single exchange or stablecoin.
A central point in Teng's defense was distinguishing a systemic depeg from an isolated liquidity bottleneck. He acknowledged that USDe briefly traded as low as 65 cents on Binance's order book during the peak strain. However, he highlighted that the token remained at 99 cents on every other major venue, including Bybit and decentralized exchanges like Curve. Teng explained this divergence occurred because 75% of the day's liquidations happened within a single hour, creating a "microstructure shock" where arbitrageurs couldn't move liquidity fast enough due to API outages and transfer delays. He stressed that redemptions at parity continued flawlessly on the Ethena protocol, proving the price divergence was a symptom of panic, not a cause.
Despite the volatility, Teng revealed Binance has committed $600 million toward user support—$300 million to compensate those affected by technical "display errors" and another $300 million for a "goodwill fund" to share market risk. He challenged other exchanges to match this transparency. Furthermore, he noted that institutional and corporate demand has remained "remarkably resilient" post-crash, suggesting smart money understands these cycles are driven by global geopolitics. For Binance, the 2026 focus remains on infrastructure hardening and regulatory harmonization to withstand future macro-driven "black swan" events.
