The founder and former CEO of Binance, Changpeng CZ Zhao, asks the US bankruptcy court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by FTX for 1.8 billion dollars. For CZ, his residence in the UAE places him outside the legal jurisdiction of Delaware. Here’s what happened.
Binance vs. FTX: the former CEO CZ requests the dismissal of the 1.8 billion dollar lawsuit
Changpeng CZ Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance, has requested to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the FTX bankruptcy trustee, amounting to exactly 1.76 billion dollars.
In practice, according to the document presented on Monday, it seems that CZ, a resident of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is outside the legal jurisdiction of Delaware and therefore safe from the claims of the failed crypto-exchange FTX.
“The fraudulent transfer claims of the plaintiffs improperly require the extension of bankruptcy law abroad”
In fact, it seems that the bankruptcy trustee of FTX is trying to recover 1.76 billion dollars that would have been exchanged between the two entities. In this regard, CZ responds that the disputed transactions have a cross-border nature, arguing that the relevant US laws do not have extraterritorial reach.
The document sets out a series of reasons why all claims against CZ should be dismissed with prejudice. Now it will be the bankruptcy court to deliver the verdict.
Binance: the lawsuit of FTX towards CZ and the crypto-exchange
It was November 2024 when the bankrupt crypto-exchange, FTX, was about to start its lawsuit against Binance and CZ.
The request for 1.8 billion dollars would refer to the month of July 2021, when Binance and its executives allegedly obtained 1.75 billion dollars fraudulently from Sam Bankman-Fried.
Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that Binance, CZ, and other executives of the crypto-exchange had received this amount in FTT, BNB, and BUSD tokens. The reason for these transactions by Bankman-Fried was to buy back FTX shares.
During that period, the bankruptcy estate of FTX had made a round of complaints against various crypto companies. The one against Bybit was resolved with a settlement, with the crypto company agreeing to pay 175 million dollars to FTX in crypto and another 53 million.
On the contrary of this procedure, Binance, CZ, and the other executives have instead held firm, reaching the request for dismissal after nine months.
The birth of the BNB treasury company and the price of the crypto
CZ made headlines last month when he announced that he will support a new BNB treasury company.
In practice, this treasury company aims to offer institutional and retail exposure to the token in the USA. The company will support 10X Capital in the creation of this new company, with the goal of being listed on one of the main USA exchanges.
This project aims to meet the need of institutional and private investors to directly access BNB, the native token of the Binance ecosystem.
At the time of writing, BNB is the fifth crypto in the ranking, with a total market cap of over 2 billion dollars.
The price of BNB is $760 and it is in a pump of +14% compared to 30 days ago. BNB recorded its all-time high price (All-Time High – ATH) last July 28, 2025, above $843.