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Early bitcoin investor Star Xu, founder of OKX, blames Binance for BTC’s October crash

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Early bitcoin investor Star Xu, founder of OKX, blames Binance for BTC's October crash

Nearly four months after crypto’s record Oct. 10 flash crash wiped out leveraged positions across the market, the industry is still arguing about what actually broke.

That argument turned into a public spat on Saturday after OKX founder and CEO Star Xu claimed the crash was neither complicated nor accidental, but the result of irresponsible yield campaigns that pushed traders into leverage loops they did not understand.

On Oct. 10, President Trump’s fresh tariff escalation on China rattled macro markets and hit crypto at the worst moment. With leverage already stacked, the initial drop turned into a wipeout with roughly $19.16 billion in liquidations, including about $16 billion from long bets, as forced selling cascaded across venues.

Star’s core point was about USDe, a yield-bearing token issued by Ethena. He described USDe as closer to a tokenized hedge fund strategy than a plain stablecoin. It is designed to generate yield through trading and hedging strategies, then pass that yield back to holders.

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“No complexity. No accident. 10/10 was caused by irresponsible marketing campaigns by certain companies. On October 10, tens of billions of dollars were liquidated. As CEO of OKX, we observed clearly that the crypto market’s microstructure fundamentally changed after that day. Many industry participants believe the damage was more severe than the FTX collapse. Since then, there has been extensive discussion about why it happened and how to prevent a recurrence. The root causes are not difficult to identify,” Xu said.

Star argued that the risk began when traders were nudged into treating USDe like cash. In his telling, users were encouraged to swap stablecoins into USDe for attractive yields, then use USDe as collateral to borrow more stablecoins, convert those into USDe again, and repeat the cycle. The loop created a self-feeding leverage machine that made yields look safer than they were.

“Binance users were encouraged to convert USDT and USDC into USDe to earn attractive yields, without sufficient emphasis on the underlying risks,” he said. “From a user’s perspective, trading with USDe appeared no different from trading with traditional stablecoins—while the actual risk profile was materially higher.”

When volatility hit, Star said, that structure would not need a big trigger to unwind. He claimed the cascade helped turn a selloff into a wipeout and left lasting damage across exchanges and users.

“BTC began declining roughly 30 minutes before the USDe depeg. This exactly supports the earlier point: the initial move was a market shock. Absent the USDe leverage loop, the market would likely have stabilized at that point. The cascading liquidations were not inevitable—they were amplified by structural leverage, as explained previously,” he said.

Others in the market pushed back on Star’s tweets.

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Dragonfly partner Haseeb Qureshi called Star’s story “ridiculous,” saying it tries to force a clean villain onto an event that does not fit a simple narrative. He argued the crash did not unfold like a classic stablecoin blowup that spreads everywhere at once.

If a single token failure truly drove the day, he said, the stress would have shown up broadly and in sync across venues.

“USDe price diverged ONLY on Binance, it did not diverge on other venues,” he said. “But the liquidation spiral was happening everywhere. So if the USDe “depeg” did not propagate across the market, it can’t explain how *every single exchange* saw huge wipeouts.”

Qureshi’s alternative explanation is that macro headlines simply spooked an already levered market. Liquidations began as liquidity pulled back fast.

Once that cycle starts, he said, it becomes reflexive. Forced selling drives lower prices, which triggers more forced selling, with few natural buyers willing to step in during chaos.

Earlier in the day, Binance attributed the Oct. 10 flash crash to a macro-driven selloff colliding with heavy leverage and vanishing liquidity, rejecting claims of a core trading-system failure, as CoinDesk reported.

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Late Friday, CZ quote-tweeted Qureshi with a sharper line that aimed at motive as much as mechanics. “Dragonfly is/was one of the largest investors of OKX,” CZ wrote, adding, “Data speaks. Time doesn’t match. Good to see people understanding facts.”

Star, however, rejected CZ’s characterization of Dragonfly’s relationship with OKX.

“Dragonfly has never been an investor in OKX,” he wrote, adding that OKX invested in Dragonfly before Qureshi joined the firm, and that a partner’s previous fund, not Dragonfly, had invested in OKX.

He added the details are “distinct and easily verifiable,” and he would not engage further.

Not everyone buys the idea of a single villain, however. Some market watchers say the selloff was simpler and driven by excess leverage and weak underlying demand rather than one platform or product.

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“The markets crashed because the industry was overlevered alts and macro revealed that there was no sustainable organic bid for it,” Seraphim Czecker, former head of growth at Ethena Labs, said on X.

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Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Partners with Kalshi to Leverage Prediction Market Intelligence

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Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

Key Highlights

  • Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest partners with Kalshi to integrate prediction market intelligence into investment strategy
  • Prediction market insights will support portfolio research, risk assessment, and hedging strategies
  • Cathie Wood describes prediction markets as “a natural next step for innovation in financial research”
  • Federal Reserve researchers and Cornell University academics have validated prediction market data’s utility
  • Kalshi recently achieved a $22 billion valuation following a $1 billion capital raise

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has revealed a strategic partnership with Kalshi, a regulated prediction markets platform, marking a significant shift in how institutional investors approach market intelligence.

According to the announcement, ARK Invest will integrate Kalshi’s prediction market data across three critical functions: enhancing its proprietary research with real-time crowd-sourced forecasts, monitoring key performance metrics such as trading activity, and implementing risk controls tied to specific market events.

The investment firm also intends to utilize Kalshi’s platform for hedging strategies designed to protect against adverse scenarios impacting its holdings, spanning both macroeconomic developments and industry-specific vulnerabilities.

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“We believe these signals can enhance our research process and provide valuable context around key drivers across disruptive sectors,” Wood stated in Thursday’s announcement.

Nick Grous, ARK’s Director of Research, characterized prediction markets as delivering “some of the purest expressions of risk around key economic and company-specific outcomes.”

ARK has actively collaborated with Kalshi to develop specialized markets aligned with the firm’s analytical priorities.

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour disclosed that multiple ARK-requested markets have already launched, including contracts tracking non-farm payroll data and deficit-to-GDP ratios.

Understanding Prediction Markets

Prediction markets function as trading platforms where participants buy and sell contracts based on future event outcomes. The fundamental premise holds that when participants risk actual capital, market prices become efficient aggregators of collective knowledge and unbiased probability assessments.

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Kalshi stands as one of America’s leading regulated prediction market operators. Its primary competitor, Polymarket, functions predominantly within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Throughout the previous year, prediction markets recorded over $10 billion in monthly transaction volume, attracting increasing institutional adoption.

Institutional Validation Growing

ARK Invest joins a expanding roster of established institutions recognizing prediction market value. Recently, Federal Reserve researchers released a study contending that Kalshi’s data offers superior real-time measurement of macroeconomic expectations compared to conventional forecasting instruments.

Federal Reserve analysts concluded that Kalshi markets deliver “a high-frequency, continuously updated, distributionally rich benchmark” valuable for both academic researchers and monetary policy officials.

Academic institutions have similarly engaged with prediction market analytics. Cornell University researchers examined Polymarket data to investigate trader behavior during significant political moments, including the 2024 presidential debate series and the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

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Kalshi’s recent $1 billion funding round established the platform’s valuation at $22 billion, underscoring growing confidence in prediction markets as financial infrastructure.

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Ripple CEO Bets Big on Clarity Act Despite Coinbase Clash

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Crypto Breaking News

Key Insights

  • Garlinghouse remains confident the Clarity Act will pass despite industry divisions and Coinbase resistance.
  • SEC and CFTC recognition of assets like XRP signals growing regulatory clarity in the crypto sector.
  • Ripple sees limited need for multiple USD stablecoins, positioning for a compliant, institution-focused alternative.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has expressed confidence that the US Senate’s stalled Clarity Act will eventually pass, even as opposition from Coinbase continues to complicate negotiations.

Speaking at the FII PRIORITY Miami summit, Garlinghouse emphasized that Ripple is not directly involved in the dispute. ‘Ripple doesn’t have a big dog in this fight,’ he said, noting the company is largely observing developments from the sidelines.

Regulatory Momentum Builds

The Clarity Act aims to introduce more transparent regulations concerning the digital assets, especially relating to the classification and regulation. It has drawn the attention of the crypto industry, which has long wanted regulatory certainty in the United States.

Garlinghouse pointed to growing institutional and political backing as a positive signal. ‘White House support pushing the Clarity Act forward has been profound,’ he stated, suggesting momentum remains intact despite setbacks.

However, Coinbase’s rejection of a recent compromise has slowed progress. The exchange has pushed towards more desirable terms, marking continuing divisions in the industry on how regulation is to be designed.

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SEC, CFTC and Existing Clarity

Garlinghouse also referenced existing regulatory developments, noting that assets like XRP have already seen classification progress. According to him, both the SEC and CFTC have acknowledged certain digital assets as commodities.

‘There is already some clarity,’ he said, adding that industry participants are growing impatient. ‘People are annoyed. They are exhausted. So, hopefully we get something done.’

Stablecoin Debate Intensifies

Beyond legislation, Garlinghouse addressed the proliferation of stablecoins, particularly those pegged to the U.S. dollar. He argued that the market does not need excessive duplication.

‘My head starts to hurt if you think about the proliferation,’ he said, referencing the growing number of USD-backed tokens, including USDC.

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He disclosed that Ripple had already minted a substantial share of USDC, implying that the company is equipped with the infrastructure to issue its own stablecoin. Having a strong balance sheet, Ripple aims to establish itself as a compliant, institution-oriented player.

Market Outlook

As regulatory discussions continue, XRP market sentiment is still closely linked to legislative progress and developments around ETFs. The implementation of the Clarity Act may help give a more transparent framework for institutional adoption.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Tether Hires KPMG for First Full USDt Audit: Report

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Tether Hires KPMG for First Full USDt Audit: Report

The Financial Times reported Friday that Tether has hired KPMG to conduct its first full audit of USDT’s financial statements and brought in PwC to help prepare its internal systems, citing people familiar with the matter.

The reported mandate follows Tether’s Tuesday announcement that it had formally engaged a Big Four firm for an inaugural financial statement audit, without naming the provider, and comes after years of pledges to deliver a full review of its books while relying instead on periodic reserve attestations from BDO Italia, the Italian member firm of the BDO global accounting network that has been producing USDt (USDT) assurance reports since 2022.

The move comes as Tether (USDT) weighs a major equity raise and a push into the US under the new federal stablecoin framework created by the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. 

USDT, a dollar-linked token with about $185 billion in circulation, is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Tether said in January that it held more than $122 billion in direct US Treasury securities and about $141 billion in total Treasury exposure, including related instruments such as overnight reverse repurchase agreements.

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Related: Tether CEO slams S&P ratings agency and influencers spreading USDt FUD

A comprehensive audit by KPMG is expected to go beyond snapshots of reserves, covering Tether’s assets, liabilities and internal controls across its sprawling balance sheet, a process the company has billed as “the biggest ever inaugural audit in the history of financial markets.” 

Tether’s Big Four Announcement on Tuesday. Source: Tether

Tether said the Big Four firm was chosen through a competitive process and that it already operates at Big Four “audit standards,” but has not yet committed publicly to when the audit will be completed.

Cointelegraph reached out to Tether and KPMG but had not received a response by publication. PwC refused to comment on the matter.

KPMG audit and Tether’s funding ambitions 

Bloomberg reported in September 2025 that Tether was exploring raising as much as $20 billion in fresh equity, implying a valuation of $500 billion. Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino refuted these claims, telling Cointelegraph in February that such a figure had not been agreed upon, while maintaining its $500 billion valuation target based on the company’s profits.

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The company has previously paid a $41 million Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fine over what the regulator called “untrue or misleading statements” about its reserves.

In a separate case, Tether agreed to an $18.5 million settlement with the New York Attorney General over allegations it concealed losses and misled investors about USDT’s backing. Under the NYAG deal, Tether was compelled to provide detailed quarterly reserve reports for two years and later dropped its opposition to the release of those materials. 

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