$30 Million Market Frenzy Forces Binance Founder to Abandon Public Wallet
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has abandoned his public wallet after a routine cleanup attempt turned into a $30 million market frenzy. The incident began when CZ burned tokens from two third-party projects, which speculators misinterpreted as a hidden on-chain signal.
The price of the virtually dead coin surged by over 30,000% to $30 million, while its legitimate version remained stable. This surge was reminiscent of the Shiba Inu pump in 2021, where Vitalik Buterin burning SHIB tokens triggered a historic supply shortage.
CZ explained that he was simply testing the Trust Wallet app and trying to remove junk tokens, but his attempt produced a Streisand effect. As he burned more tokens, new spam tokens continued arriving at an exponential rate, triggering false speculation.
To put an end to this manipulation, CZ decided to empty the wallet completely, donating all legitimate BNB holdings and associated tokens to his educational charity project, Giggle Academy. He will stop using the address entirely, officially turning it into a 'burn address' where any coins sent there in the future will be locked forever.