Binance CEO warns employees about private 'ranting' that could show up in court

Binance CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao warned employees in an internal memo to mind their words — lest they end up in court for the world to see.

"Binance collaborates with investigators. The first thing they usually ask for is our chat logs. Anything you say can/will show up in a courtroom (or on the internet) one day," Zhao wrote in a memo first obtained by Wu Blockchain. A Binance spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the memo to The Block. 

Zhao referenced one tweet that quoted now infamous chat logs cited by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a lawsuit it brought against crypto exchange earlier this week. 

Binance reputation

"While this is just two guys ranting 'privately' 5 years ago, this is extremely damaging to our reputation," Zhao said. The comment referenced came from an employee who allegedly had said that "we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro."

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the agency has internal communications that allegedly show Binance executives knowingly broke the law. He quoted some of it in a Thursday speech. Zhao said it was "outrageous" that the SEC had been using some of the comments.

"But we will let the lawyers handle that," he said in the memo.