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Wintermute Dismisses Claims Binance Caused October Crash

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Wintermute Dismisses Claims Binance Caused October Crash

Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy dismissed claims that Binance caused the October 10 crypto market crash, calling attempts to blame a single exchange “intellectually dishonest.”

Summary

  • Wintermute’s Evgeny Gaevoy called blaming Binance for Oct. 10 crash “intellectually dishonest.”
  • He said macro news hit an overleveraged market during illiquid hours, triggering liquidations.
  • OKX CEO Star Xu argued USDe leverage loops amplified systemic risk across crypto markets.

Writing on X, Gaevoy called the event as “a flash crash on mega leveraged market on illiquid Friday night driven by macro news” rather than platform-specific failures.

The comments responded to OKX CEO Star Xu’s criticism that Binance irresponsibly marketed USDe with 12% yields while allowing the token to serve as collateral without proper risk warnings.

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Tens of billions of dollars were liquidated during the October 10 event, which Xu claimed fundamentally changed crypto market microstructure.

Gaevoy countered that “finding a scapegoat is comfy” during bear markets but does not address underlying market conditions.

Macro conditions triggered leveraged position unwind

Gaevoy rejected characterizations of October 10 as a “software glitch,” stating the crash resulted from macro news hitting an overleveraged market during illiquid trading hours.

The Friday night timing amplified volatility as fewer market makers provided liquidity to absorb selling pressure.

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“I get that nobody likes being in bear market, watching every single asset class besides crypto going up,” Gaevoy wrote.

Gaevoy urged “public figures would pick words more carefully” when discussing the crash. His pushback came as multiple industry leaders debated causes of the liquidation that some participants compared to FTX’s collapse in severity.

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The October event followed announcement of 100% tariffs on China by the United States. The macro catalyst caused liquidations across leveraged positions, with total crypto market capitalization falling 23.7% in Q4 2025 according to CoinGecko data.

Star Xu details USDe leverage loop mechanics

OKX CEO Star Xu provided detailed mechanics of how Binance’s USDe promotion created systemic risk.

Users converted USDT and USDC into USDe to earn 12% yields, then used USDe as collateral to borrow USDT, converted borrowed funds back into USDe, and repeated the cycle.

The leverage loop produced artificial APYs reaching 24%, 36%, and exceeding 70%, which users perceived as low risk because a major platform offered the yields. “Systemic risk accumulated quickly across the global crypto market,” Xu wrote.

USDe differs fundamentally from tokenized money market funds like BlackRock BUIDL and Franklin Templeton BENJI, Xu argued.

When volatility hit, USDe depegged quickly. Cascading liquidations followed, with weaknesses in risk management around assets like WETH and BNSOL amplifying the crash. Some tokens briefly traded near zero.

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“I am discussing the root cause, not assigning blame or launching an attack on Binance,” Xu stated.

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GAS Tanks 90% After AI Dev ‘Steps Back’

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GAS Tanks 90% After AI Dev ‘Steps Back’


The Gas Town token has plunged to a $1.1 million valuation just four days after peaking above $60 million.

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Most Crypto Holders Want to Pay with Bitcoin but Rarely Do, Survey Show

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Most Crypto Holders Want to Pay with Bitcoin but Rarely Do, Survey Show


But most say limited merchant acceptance and high fees stop them from spending crypto.

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Classic Chart Pattern Signals ETH Could Slip Below $2K

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Classic Chart Pattern Signals ETH Could Slip Below $2K

The price of Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), risks sliding below $2,000 in February as a classic bearish setup plays out.

Key takeaways:

  • ETH breakdown keeps $1,665 downside target in focus.

  • MVRV bands also point to price sliding toward $1,725 or lower before a potential bottom.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

ETH risks declining 25% in February

As of Wednesday, ETH had entered the breakdown stage of its prevailing inverse-cup-and-handle (IC&H) pattern. This could extend a downtrend that has already erased about 60% from its August 2025 peak.

An IC&H pattern forms when price forms a rounded top and then drifts higher in a small recovery channel. It typically resolves when the price breaks below the neckline support, often falling by as much as the cup’s maximum height.

Ether broke below the inverse cup-and-handle neckline near $2,960 in January. It later rebounded to retest that level as resistance, a common post-breakdown move, only to resume its decline.

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Ether inverse cup-and-handle. Source: TradingView

ETH’s rebound also stalled below the 20-day (green) and 50-day (red) EMAs, which acted as overhead resistance.

These confluence indicators raised ETH’s odds of declining toward the IC&H breakdown target at around $1,665, down 25%, in February or by early March.

Historically, the inverse cup-and-handle hits its projected downside target with an 82% success rate, according to a study by Chartswatcher.

From a macro perspective, Ethereum’s downside risk is increasing as traders cut back on crypto bets, worried the market could slip into a broader 2026 downturn similar to past “four-year cycle” pullbacks.

Fears of an “AI bubble” popping are also forcing traders to avoid riskier bets such as crypto.

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Ethereum’s MVRV bands hint at $1,725 target

Ethereum’s technical downside target sat just below the lowest boundary of its MVRV extreme deviation pricing bands, currently at $1,725.

These bands are onchain price zones that show when ETH is trading below or above the average price at which traders last moved their coins.

Ethereum MVRV extreme deviation pricing bands. Source: Glassnode

Historically, ETH price plunged near or even below the lowest MVRV band before bottoming out.

That includes the April 2025 bounce, when the ETH price rose 90% a month after testing the lowest MVRV deviation band around $1,390. A similar rebound occurred in June 2018.

Related: ETH funding rate turns negative, but US macro conditions mute buy signal

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Therefore, Ether may decline toward $1,725 or below in February, which lines up with the IC&H downside target.