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Binance employee chat records exposed, involving a large amount of sensitive content! CZ: SEC using this as evidence is absurd.

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Binance employee chat records exposed, involving a large amount of sensitive content! CZ: SEC using this as evidence is absurd.

The renowned crypto Twitter influencer Adam Cochran recently shared a series of chat logs from within Binance, revealing a significant amount of sensitive information that has been used as evidence in the SEC's lawsuit against Binance. In response, CZ expressed his thoughts in an internal staff memo, deeming the SEC's use of these materials as evidence to be absurd.

Internal Discussions Among Binance Staff

In the internal conversations provided by Adam Cochran, the first part took place between former compliance officer Sam Lin and business development lead Alivn. In multiple chat screenshots, they mentioned the following sensitive content:

  1. Sam Lin stated that the price of BNB could drop to zero at any time, comparing their operation to an unlicensed securities exchange in the U.S.
  2. Alivn mentioned that the price of BNB could drop very low, even below HUOBI, and remarked that holding BNB takes courage.
  3. Sam Lin suggested that Alivn should sell half of the BNB rewards received from the company for USDT directly, stating that holding 100% BNB is foolish.
  4. Alivn likened Binance's compliance situation to the sinking Titanic.
  5. Sam Lin expressed concerns about the imbalance between risks and rewards, stating that if he were the CCO compliance officer, signing compliance matters with OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) would make him uncomfortable.
  6. Sam Lin mentioned that the CFO at the time, Wei Zhou, requested him to take on the role of CCO and handle signing matters, but he did not accept.
  7. Sam Lin remarked that Binance could not be clean, as no possible evidence could be found.
  8. Sam Lin discussed how CZ instructed employees to circumvent procedures, while Alivn indicated that business priorities were higher than compliance training.
  9. Sam Lin stated that the strategy for BNB was to survive for over two years, then exit.

Note: The conversations took place on December 24, 2018.

Additionally, a recording of CZ on June 25, 2019, was used as evidence, mentioning that Binance allowed U.S. users to use foreign KYC, even ignoring their IP locations.

During the launch phase of Binance.US, internal discussions among Binance staff also included sensitive content, such as:

  1. Discussions among Binance executives mentioned that as long as there was a way for U.S. employees to continue using Binance, like using VPNs and purchasing KYC, similar to how Chinese people often do.
  2. Sam Lin suggested that if an organization was large enough, it could use Binance.US as an entry point and trade on Binance International after special settings. Sam Lin also believed that CZ would approve of this approach.
  3. Catherine Coley, CEO of Binance.US, mentioned that Binance International employees were converting dollars into BUSD, but the reasons were untraceable.

Note: The conversations occurred between July and December 2020.

CZ's Response to Employee Conversations

According to a report by Odaily, Binance CEO CZ released an internal staff letter addressing the above content.

CZ stated that although this was just private complaints five years ago involving Sam Lin and Alivn, it had a significant impact on Binance's reputation.

Furthermore, CZ emphasized that when Binance cooperates with investigators, they often request our chat records first, so everything employees say may one day appear in court or online.

Regarding the SEC using employee chat records as evidence, CZ found it absurd but stated that he would leave this matter to the lawyers and would not check employees' phones.