Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao announced he will no longer publicly disclose his personal crypto investments after his most recent token purchase appeared to have caused heightened volatility in markets.
Zhao’s public revelation that he had purchased $2 million worth of the decentralized exchange token Aster (ASTER) on Sunday had caused the token to surge by about 30%. However, within just two days of his disclosure, ASTER’s price tanked and erased all the profits from the CZ-pump rally.
The ex-Binance CEO admitted on X on Tuesday that his buying activity always seemed to coincide with price declines in the coins he had revealed. “Every time I buy coins, I get stuck in a losing position, 100% record,” he wrote.
Zhao: I won’t disclose anymore
In the same post, CZ said he had topped up his holdings once again, while warning followers to be mindful of how easily the market can be swayed.
He revisited past occurrences, such as when he bought Bitcoin in 2014 at an average price of $600, and it dropped to $200 in 30 days, and couldn’t mount a comeback for 18 months. In 2017, Zhao bought BNB, which caused it to slip by 20-30% for a few weeks.
“Yesterday, I added a bit more to my position. So everyone, be sure to watch out for risks. I won’t disclose anymore in the future, to avoid affecting everyone’s market.”
Zhao’s tongue-in-cheek admission of the unintended influence his words and actions have on crypto asset prices has been linked to Aster’s drop below $1.
Data from CoinGlass showed Aster’s open interest ticked upwards by 40% to $640 million on Sunday, but the level has dropped to $542 million, insinuating that traders are closing their positions to take profits, cut losses, or letting contracts expire.
When pressed by followers about which token he had added to his portfolio, CZ hinted that it was Aster, although it is unclear if he was being literal or sarcastic.
Community still wants Zhao to disclose
On Monday, CZ launched a poll on X asking his 9 million followers if he should continue disclosing his personal trades. 69.7% voted for him to keep revealing his positions publicly, but naysayers contended that CZ’s disclosures were counterproductive, creating self-fulfilling volatility whenever his trades became public knowledge.
Saw quite a bit of over interpretation from my disclosure yesterday. In the future, should I:
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) November 3, 2025
According to one wallet tracked by blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, the Binance KOL holdings are valued at roughly $109.3 million, and include tokens like SHORT worth $107.5 million. 1,023 BNB worth approximately $975,000, 84.9 million QUQ tokens valued at $263,000, and 1.77 million SIREN tokens worth $132,000.
Smaller positions include 16 million 客服小何 tokens, worth $76,000, and approximately 30 million BNB CARD tokens, valued at $50,000. The wallet also lists 7.35 XAUM, a tokenized asset tied to gold, worth $29,000, and 40 million GHIBLI tokens valued at around $25,000.
CZ’s Trump pardon, Binance’s political ties discussed
As reported by Cryptopolitan, CZ received a US presidential pardon less than two weeks ago from President Donald Trump. Zhao had pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an adequate anti–money laundering program during his time as CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Binance forged partnerships with World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform co-founded by members of the Trump family. The platform is the primary business of the Trump family’s crypto empire, reportedly valued at over $7 billion.
According to prior reporting and public filings, Binance is linked to World Liberty Financial in more than one way, and it supposedly wrote underlying code for the platform’s stablecoin USD1, a digital dollar pegged on a one-to-one ratio with the US dollar.
In a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired on November 2, Trump distanced himself from Zhao, despite being the one to grant the pardon. Asked why he had intervened, the president insisted he did not “know who he is.”
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