Binance defends role in $19B 10/10 crash

Binance Co-CEO, Richard Teng, defended the exchange at Consensus Hong Kong, arguing that macroeconomic shocks rather than platform failures caused the October 10 “10/10” crypto crash that triggered roughly $19 billion in liquidations.

Speaking at CoinDesk’s conference on February 12, 2026, Teng said escalating US-China trade tensions and tariff threats abruptly reversed global risk sentiment, sparking forced liquidations across both centralised and decentralised venues.

“The US equity market plunged $1.5 trillion in value that day,”

Teng said, adding:

“The US equity market alone saw $150 billion of liquidation. The crypto market is much smaller. It was about $19 billion. And the liquidation on crypto happened across all the exchanges.”

Teng acknowledged minor issues during the event, including temporary transfer delays and a brief USDe stablecoin depegging, but maintained these were unrelated to the broader market-wide sell-off.

The exchange, which reportedly processed $34 trillion in trading volume last year and serves more than 300 million users, said it compensated certain affected traders while rejecting claims of systemic failure.

Critics on social media accused Binance of locking APIs and contributing to forced liquidations, dismissing the “macro shock” explanation as an attempt to deflect responsibility during a high-leverage market event.

The controversy underscores ongoing tensions between centralised exchanges and leveraged traders, as Binance faces mounting pressure to restore confidence while institutional participation in crypto markets continues to expand.