As the repercussions of the sharp drop in the cryptocurrency market on October 10th continue, the war of words among leading figures in the sector is growing.
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, suggested that the crash could trigger an 18-month bear market, while Binance and OKX issued conflicting statements.
Yakovenko, in a post on the social media platform X, stated, “If we’re lucky, the October 10th crash could trigger an 18-month bear market. During this time, we can build new things for the crypto space.”
Yakovenko also retweeted a post by OKX founder Star blaming Binance for the October 10/11 crash, adding a slightly sarcastic comment: “It recovered just 18 months later.” This was interpreted as a reference to the strong recovery of the SOL price in approximately 18 months following the FTX crash.
Following this development, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) unfollowed Yakovenko’s X account.
OKX founder Star, after previous indirect allusions, directly targeted Binance for the first time. According to Star, the October 10 crash stemmed from Binance’s “irresponsible” incentive policies for its USDe product.
Star argued that Binance incentivized users to convert USDT and USDC to USDe with promises of attractive returns, but failed to adequately highlight the risks of the product. He claimed that a minor market shock triggered a collapse due to this structure, leading to chain liquidations.
Binance founder CZ responded to the recent surge in FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). He stated that the 1011 crash was not caused by any Binance system error or platform operation, adding that the company operates in compliance with regulations and there is no reason for it to engage in any illegal activity.
CZ also stated that no exchange or website can guarantee 100% uptime, and that such conditions are clearly stated in user agreements. While performance issues occasionally occur during peak hours, he argued that Binance performs well in compensating for losses incurred.
On the other hand, Evgeny Gaevoy, founder of the crypto market maker Wintermute, supported Binance’s statements. Gaevoy stated that the October 11th crash was clearly not a software error, but a “flash crash” in a highly leveraged market triggered by macroeconomic news flow on a Friday evening with low liquidity.
Binance CEO He Yi also personally responded to community questions. He Yi stated that Wintermute has more information and technical authority on the matter. He also mentioned that they met with OKX CEO Star in December 2025, and the October 10th incident was not brought up at that time, but that accusations have been leveled against them recently.
*This is not investment advice.
