The cryptocurrency exchange experienced a lot of backlash for the sudden downtime. Some stated that the outages were actually planned by Binance itself: https://twitter.com/MertZeyne2/status/1230116901247995906Unscheduled system maintenance. Trading paused. Working on it.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 19, 2020
Over the course of the day, Changpeng Zhao made various tweets attempting to update followers on the progress made towards resolving the issue. Eventually, the day’s criticism appears to have taken its toll on the Binance CEO. In the following tweet, made prior to the exchange’s relaunch, he implies that the censoring of differing opinions will benefit individuals in both their financial and personal life:Unbelievable.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 19, 2020
It's getting a daily problem on @binance nowadays.
But still, we keep on adding new leveraged pairs.
The priority is seemingly at letting you lose your money as fast as you can.
Although Zhao received countless messages of support for the exchange’s efforts at transparency during the unexpected outage, the criticism didn’t let up even after the announcement that systems were coming back online. In response to various tweets he made throughout the day, Zhao faced numerous allegations of market manipulation. Many of those criticizing the exchange said the downtime, which as BeInCrypto recently reported is becoming more common at the trading venue, is engineered:There people spreading FUD now. You can safely block them now, or when we come back online.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 19, 2020
You want up-to-date info. But you definitely want to block negativity/FUD out of your life. It will have a positive impact on your finances and quality of life.
Now that Binance systems have been fully restored, Zhao appears to be making good on the block-happy rhetoric he expressed earlier. After thanking those that had supported the exchange over the trying few hours, the CEO essentially called all those disagreeing with him “suckers.”Binance will soon loses its reputation by doing all these unscheduled maintenance and market manipulation. There are many users who have lost a lost of money in your so called future market by your manipulation.
— GAURAV NEGI (@gauravnegi19) February 19, 2020
Such a clear penchant for censorship seems at odds with the wider attitudes of the cryptocurrency industry. After all, Bitcoin, the phenomena that started it all, attracted many of its current proponents thanks to its ability to transfer value in a manner resistant to censorship and free of any trusted intermediary.Withdrawals are resumed too. Thank you for your patience and support!
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 19, 2020
Time to block those suckers now. https://t.co/1NjHPVZmL9
That said, the jury is still out on just how much decentralization means to Zhao. In a recent interview with BlockTV, the CEO said there were definitely advantages to a system of absolute centralization, such as that operated by the Chinese government.
https://twitter.com/BLOCKTVnews/status/1230228275945000960
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