‘Abnormal’ Altcoin Trading on Binance ‘Just Market Behavior,’ Says CEO

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance issued a notice on Sunday acknowledging reports that a handful of altcoins were trading in an “abnormal” fashion on its platform. The exchange stated it would investigate the matter and take the appropriate actions against “suspicious accounts.”

Binance’s Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” later declared that the price movements appeared to be “just market behavior.” He explained that one account deposited funds into a trading account, started buying up certain coins, and that others followed suit.

Binance had temporarily blocked accounts related to altcoin trading. This prevented them from being allowed to withdraw their funds. The decision was reversed after the company “received a lot of complaints on social media” from users in various countries, Zhao said.

In a subsequent Tweet, Zhao recognized there’s such a thing as “too much intervention” in maintaining an exchange that operates in an industry which centers around the notion of decentralization. There’s a “balance” to the appropriate amount of intervention, he said, adding that it’s sometimes worth letting similar situations “play out.”

Binance said in a statement that Sunday’s trading activity was not the result of stolen API keys or compromised customer accounts. However, it promised to provide updates if additional information becomes available.

The clarification comes after one of Binance’s users, who has since had their account suspended, expressed concerns last week that an API key was leaked through intermediary trading platform 3Commas, which led them to lose funds.

CoinMamba is a Twitter user who exchanged tweets with Zhao regarding the money that was missing. CoinMamba stated “it would be nice” to get a refund but was mostly upset about the lack of prompt action.

Zhao replied it was not a situation that warranted a refund, adding that it’s important for one to keep their API key secure.

In a now-deleted Tweet, Zhao also said he was also considering restrictions on CoinMamba’s account in addition to 3Commas because Binance doesn’t “want to service people that are being unreasonable.”

CoinMamba later claimed his account was closed due to tweets he had made. The Twitter account for Binance’s customer support team replied, claiming that CoinMamba’s account was set to “withdrawal only mode” because of “threats” the user allegedly made.

3Commas published a press release On Saturday, they will address questions regarding attacks against their platform and API keys. Users who were affected by the attackers are urged to report to police as soon as possible in order for funds to be frozen and possibly recovered. It also warned 3Commas’ users to beware of phishing attacks.

On Sunday, 3Commas also posted a statement on Twitter that claimed “false rumors” were being spread online by “bad faith actors” which accused the platform of leaking users’ API keys. 3Commas stated that the rumors were related fake screenshots.

CoinMamba, Binance and 3Commas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.