The CEO of the largest crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, responded to criticism after large donations in the BNB cryptocurrency to help victims of the earthquake in Morocco.
Changpeng Zhao tweeted that the exchange has received a lot of positive feedback from users for the allocated funds. Last week, Binance distributed $3 million in BNB coins to Moroccan users affected by the natural disaster. Additionally, the exchange donated $500,000 in BNB to flood victims in Libya. However, in addition to gratitude, Binance has received criticism from traditional charities that are not familiar with cryptocurrencies. These organizations argue that people need food and water, not cryptocurrencies.
To this, Zhao replied that Binance has programs to provide basic necessities: food, water, masks and even oxygen tanks. However, organizing these relief programs takes time, while cryptocurrencies can be sent instantly, Zhao wrote.
Another argument from critics is that people need cash, not cryptocurrency. Zhao explained that cryptocurrencies can be easily converted into cash, especially if the user already has an account on the exchange. To claims that Binance donations can only be used by clients of the platform, and not by everyone in need, Zhao responded: the exchange cannot solve the problems of all people in the world, but is ready to help at least its users, to the extent possible.
“A non-crypto person who says cryptocurrencies are not cash is like a blind person saying light is useless,” Zhao tweeted.
Other critics noted that some people who received donations from Binance are not located in the affected regions. The Binance CEO admitted that user identification based on Proof-of-Authority (PoA) consensus is not ideal.
However, an earthquake in Morocco will have long-term economic consequences for the country as a whole, so accidentally providing assistance to site users will not be superfluous. When asked why Binance doesn’t donate through traditional charities, Zhao replied that the exchange works with many global charities. However, the lack of transparency makes funds difficult to track, unlike with blockchain. Using cryptocurrencies, Binance has helped about 70,000 people in Morocco and 12,000 people in Libya, Zhao concluded.
The CEO of Binance is confident that decentralized finance (DeFi) will surpass centralized finance in the near future, thanks to transparency, the absence of intermediaries and lower costs.
