CZ Says Binance Still Holds Terra Classic (LUNC)

Binance chief let slip that the crypto exchange still holds Terra Classic (LUNC).

Binance chief Changpeng Zhao in a tweet yesterday, let slip that the crypto exchange still holds Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).

He said this while hinting that the company was unwilling to take up Alameda Research’s offer to trade its FTT holdings over the counter at a premium price.

It is currently not clear why CZ volunteered this information.

I didn't say that. It was a question, not a commitment. I think we will stay in the free market.

We still hold LUNA (now LUNC) today. ?

— CZ ? Binance (@cz_binance) November 7, 2022

It is worth noting that at the time of the Terra ecosystem collapse, Binance held 15.4 million LUNC it received from an early $3 million investment in Terra. Notably, at its peak in April, Binance’s LUNC holdings were worth about $1.6 billion. However, today it is worth about $3,388.

Notably, the Binance chief, in a tweet on Sunday, had referenced LUNA while discussing the motivations for liquidating its FTT holdings. As per CZ’s statements, the company did not want to be holding a worthless bag should FTX collapse like LUNA, as concern over a possible FTX insolvency and FTT illiquidity grow. Remarkably, a CoinDesk report last Wednesday first brought attention to the problematic state of Alameda Research’s books before an analysis by Dirty Bubble Media alleged that FTX was employing the same strategies that buried Celsius.

It is worth noting that as questions arose over a transaction that moved $583 million worth of FTT to Binance on Saturday, CZ confirmed that the exchange was behind the transaction. On Sunday, the Binance chief clarified that the move is to liquidate its FTT holdings in light of recent revelations.

While FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, SBF, has come out to assure users that the exchange and its assets are fine, many do not want to take the risk after several companies in the industry collapsed this year. Ironically, several of which FTX has tried to bail out or buy out.

Despite all of these, the LUNC community has decided to see CZ’s latest statements as a sign of long-term belief in the community-owned chain. Whether this is the case is anyone’s guess, but it is worth noting that Binance and CZ have continued to communicate with and offer support to the LUNC community. Remarkably, they have sacrificed millions of dollars in trading fees to support LUNC burns.