OKX's Star Xu Clashes With Binance's CZ and Yi He Over October 10 Crash and $800M Compensation

Published October 13, 2026, 01:50 PKT. Based on the October 12, 2026 X posts of Star Xu, Changpeng Zhao and Yi He, as reported by The Crypto Times, with background from Quiknotes and the January 2026 clash covered by The Crypto Times, CoinDesk and BitcoinLinux.

The heads of the world's two largest crypto exchanges are fighting in public again. On October 12, 2026, OKX founder Star Xu and Binance co-founder Yi He traded barbs on X over how Binance responded to the October 10, 2025 market crash, the $19 billion liquidation event that reshaped crypto market structure. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, entered the fray with a post that never named Xu but was timed to the dispute. At the center of the fight is a number: the roughly $800 million CZ says Binance spent supporting users after the crash, and whether it deserves to be called voluntary.

The $800 million compensation claim

The immediate trigger was a set of interview remarks attributed to CZ and circulated in Xu's posts, according to The Crypto Times' October 12 report. In the remarks CZ reportedly shared by Xu, CZ said Binance had spent approximately $800 million compensating users who suffered losses on its platform, adding that the company was not obligated to provide the support but had done so voluntarily. Other remarks attributed to CZ concerned criticism of Binance, net inflows to the exchange and the influence of online narratives.

Xu objected to the framing of the support as voluntary, arguing that it understated the scale of the losses and the harm traders suffered during the crash, The Crypto Times reported. In his October 12 posts, Xu described the event as having caused substantial financial losses across the crypto industry. His characterizations of the total losses and their consequences are his account of the event and have not been independently verified in full.

The Yue Buqun jab

Xu's sharpest line was a literary one. He asked who the crypto industry's "Yue Buqun" was, a reference to a character in Jin Yong's martial arts novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer who is commonly associated with hypocrisy, according to The Crypto Times. The reference was a pointed criticism of how Xu believes Binance presented its actions: generous in public, self-serving underneath.

CZ's response named no one. He posted: "Obsessing over your competition is the fastest way to build a mediocre version of their product," attributing the quote to an unknown author. The post appeared on CZ's X account amid the dispute. Its timing made it relevant to the exchange, but CZ did not explicitly say it was directed at Xu, so it does not independently confirm his position on the compensation dispute, The Crypto Times noted.

Yi He hits back: the Shared Voyage Plan and counter-allegations

Binance co-founder Yi He offered the most detailed response in a thread of posts on X, The Crypto Times reported. She defended Binance's use of its Shared Voyage Plan to provide interest-free loans and other support following the crash. She also claimed that Binance's market share had been built partly through subsidies for users. That market-share figure is her own claim and has not been independently verified.

Yi He then went on the attack. She accused an unnamed competitor of spreading rumors, buying media coverage and using questionable marketing practices, and she alleged that some platforms used system manipulation to create sudden price movements, a practice she described with the term "needling." In crypto markets, a sharp price movement or wick can trigger liquidations when leveraged positions breach margin requirements, but a sudden price movement alone does not prove a market was deliberately manipulated, and Yi He's allegations about specific platforms have not been independently substantiated. She further made compliance-related accusations against the unnamed rival, including claims involving sanctioned groups and regulatory penalties. Those are serious allegations, not established findings, and the identity of the intended target should not be treated as confirmed from the wording of the posts alone, The Crypto Times reported. Neither Xu's criticism nor Yi He's counter-allegations establish on their own that either exchange engaged in misconduct.

The October 10, 2025 crash, one year on

The dispute concerns a market event that resulted in more than $19 billion in leveraged positions being liquidated, according to widely reported estimates cited by The Crypto Times. The crash followed U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of plans for a 100% tariff on Chinese imports, which fed a broad market sell-off. Heavy leverage, thin order books and cascading liquidations amplified the decline, and the event raised lasting questions about how exchanges calculated collateral values, maintained liquidity and handled liquidations under extreme conditions.

Binance disputed claims that its platform was responsible for the broader crash. In its own account of the October 10 market event, the exchange attributed the market-wide sell-off primarily to macroeconomic conditions, leverage, market-maker risk controls and network congestion. It acknowledged two platform-specific incidents involving asset transfers and index deviations for certain assets, while maintaining that those incidents did not cause the wider crash. Those are Binance's conclusions about the event and should be distinguished from independent determinations of responsibility.

This is not the first round of the feud. In January 2026, Xu openly blamed Binance's high-APY USDe campaign for the crash, saying tens of billions of dollars were liquidated and the market's microstructure fundamentally changed that day. CZ rejected the claims as far-fetched in a Binance Square AMA, saying the sell-off came from tariff-driven macro news hitting an overleveraged market. Binance maintains that the collapse was driven by macroeconomic developments, excessive leverage and disappearing liquidity, while acknowledging separate platform-specific incidents and reporting substantial compensation and recovery support, Quiknotes reported on October 12.

Dissecting Binance's compensation numbers

The compensation figures are central to the renewed dispute, but they refer to different descriptions of Binance's post-crash support and should not be treated as interchangeable, The Crypto Times reported. On October 12, 2025, Binance had paid approximately $283 million to users affected by the temporary depegging of three assets on its platform: Ethena's USDe, Binance's BNSOL and WBETH.

Binance subsequently announced additional relief measures. On October 15, 2025, the exchange added a $400 million package comprising $300 million in stablecoin support and $100 million in low-interest loans for institutional participants. Binance's later account also said that, by October 22, 2025, it had credited more than $328 million to eligible users affected by the two specific platform incidents. The exchange separately described its $300 million Together Initiative and $100 million loan fund as additional support measures.

CZ's reported reference to approximately $800 million is a broader characterization of Binance's total post-crash support. The figures cannot be reconciled from the available material alone, because they refer to different programs, time frames or descriptions of assistance. Compensation for users affected by specific platform incidents is not necessarily the same as broader discretionary support, loans or other relief measures offered after a market-wide crash. Binance's reported compensation and the Together Initiative amounted to more than $728 million in combined announced program amounts, according to Quiknotes, though those included different forms of assistance and were not a single payment for all crash-related losses.

For now, the dispute remains a clash of competing accounts. The public statements do not settle the underlying questions about the causes of the crash, the full value of Binance's support, or the allegations of market manipulation and media activity. Establishing whether any of the allegations are accurate would require evidence beyond the executives' social media posts.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Star Xu's, Changpeng Zhao's and Yi He's October 12, 2026 posts on X, primary source for the exchange of criticism (as quoted in coverage)
• The Crypto Times' October 12, 2026 report on the clash, primary coverage source for Xu's posts, CZ's response, Yi He's thread, the $800 million claim, the $283 million compensation figure, the $400 million package and the October 22 $328 million credit
• Quiknotes' October 12, 2026 report, secondary source for Binance's position on the crash causes and the $728 million combined program total
• The Crypto Times' January 31, 2026 report, secondary source for the first public clash between Xu and CZ over the crash
• CoinDesk's January 31, 2026 report, secondary source for market participants' alternative explanations of the crash