- Binance CEO Richard Teng says the Oct. 10 crash was macro-driven, not caused by Binance or a USDe depeg.
- About $1.5T in equities and $19B in crypto liquidations hit during the sell-off.
- Debate continues as industry figures clash over liquidity, leverage, and system risks.
Binance CEO Richard Teng has denied claims that the exchange caused the “10/10” liquidation crash, saying it was not Binance’s fault.
Speaking at Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Teng explained that the October 10 market drop was due to global economic and political tensions, not any issue specific to Binance.
He pointed to new U.S. tariffs and China’s restrictions on rare earth exports as key factors that shook global markets and triggered the sell-off.
$1.5T Wiped From Equities, $19B in Crypto Liquidations
According to Teng, the U.S. equity market alone lost roughly $1.5 trillion in value that day, with about $150 billion in liquidations. By comparison, crypto liquidations totaled around $19 billion across all exchanges.
He stressed that the liquidations were not limited to Binance but occurred across the industry, affecting centralized and decentralized platforms. Around 75% of crypto liquidations took place within a short window around 9:00 p.m. ET.
“The data speaks for itself,” Teng said, noting that Binance processed $34 trillion in trading volume last year and serves 300 million users. He added that trading data did not show massive withdrawals from the platform following the crash.
USDe Depeg and Transfer Delays Came After Peak Liquidations
Furthermore, Teng clarified that the USDe stablecoin depeg and transfer delays happened after most liquidations had already occurred.
He explained that while some users experienced temporary delays in moving funds, the main market crash was already underway. Binance later offered goodwill compensation to affected traders.
Teng stressed that traders must understand the risks of high leverage, especially in volatile markets. He added that Binance’s core systems stayed online and that the liquidation cascade was mainly caused by market conditions such as heavy leverage and low liquidity.
Industry Divided Over Binance’s Role
Despite Binance’s defense, the Oct. 10 crash continues to fuel debate across the industry.
Cathie Wood recently suggested that a Binance software glitch may have triggered large-scale deleveraging. Meanwhile, Binance executives have denied any internal systems failure.
Meanwhile, Evgeny Gaevoy said the event looked like a typical flash crash in an overleveraged and low-liquidity market, cautioning against blaming a single exchange.
Salman Banaei called for greater transparency, saying the incident deserves a regulatory review, not to accuse anyone, but to provide the kind of clarity seen in traditional finance investigations.
Structural Liquidity Concerns Persist
Months after the crash, traders say liquidity has not fully recovered. Order books are thinner, spreads are wider, and market confidence remains weak. Some analysts argue this fragile structure helped push Bitcoin down from its peak near $126,200 to around $60,000.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Binance offered a more positive outlook. He said that although retail activity has slowed, institutional and corporate investors are still actively deploying capital despite macro uncertainty around interest rates and geopolitics.
Binance maintains that the Oct. 10 crash was not caused by a single exchange failure. Instead, it describes the event as a market-wide stress test that exposed deeper weaknesses in crypto’s heavy reliance on leverage.
As debate continues, many now see the “10/10” event less as a one-time breakdown and more as a warning of how quickly liquidity can disappear when macro pressure collides with excessive leverage.
Related: Binance Completes $1 Billion Bitcoin Conversion for SAFU User Protection Fund
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