Binance CEO CZ Donates $100K In BNB To Aid Victims Of Botched LIBRA Meme Coin Launch

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, donated $100,000 worth of BNB tokens on Tuesday to a fundraiser aiding victims of the LIBRA memecoin scam.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, donated $100,000 worth of BNB BNB/USD tokens on Tuesday to a university student who is spearheading a fundraiser to help victims of the botched launch of the LIBRA memecoin.

According to a tweet by CZ, the student, who is also a BNB investor, had already contributed $50,000 of his own funds to assist the victims of the meme coin scam. He shared a wallet address to receive the donations, which had reportedly collected over $108,000 in BNB as of this writing.

Funny things in crypto. 🤷‍♂️When you try to make quick money, you often lose.

When you give money away, you get more back.

I donated 150 BNB (~$100,000 USD) to a university student who put up $50,000 of his own money to help Libra victims.

(This student seems to have made good…)

CZ also shared his own address, which showed that he had received more BNB than he donated to the student.

“I won’t be keeping a Satoshi of it. Will donate it away, most likely to people who had a loss on TST or some of the Broccolis,” CZ added, referring to the several meme coins named after his dog, "Broccoli."

The backstory: The donation by CZ comes in the wake of an ongoing controversy over the launch of the LIBRA meme coin, which was backed by Argentine President Javier Milei.

The president is facing calls for impeachment and criminal proceedings against him over the matter, with opponents accusing him of using his position to promote the coin.

However, Milei has defended himself by stating that he never promoted the coin and that anyone who invested in it did so voluntarily, according to a report by CNN.

“The reality is if you go to the casino and lose money, I mean, what is the claim if you knew that it had those characteristics?” he said.

At the last check, LIBRA was trading at $0.2681, down 23% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The token was down over 74% from its peak.

Benzinga's Take: The LIBRA saga highlights the speculative nature of investing in meme coins and cryptocurrencies, which can involve a high degree of risk.

Some meme coins may not have an intrinsic value and are largely driven by market sentiment, social media trends, and speculative trading. Prices can be highly volatile and may lead to a loss of investments.