OKX CEO: Binance’s USDe Yield Campaign Caused the October 10 Crash

OKX CEO Star Xu has accused Binance of fueling the October 10 crisis that erased nearly $19 billion from crypto markets. Xu alleges that the turmoil was driven by Binance’s aggressive marketing of Ethena’s USDe synthetic dollar. OKX CEO Slams Binance’s ‘Irresponsible’ USDe Marketing In a January 31 post on X (formerly Twitter), Xu claimed that the market crash was not a random accident of complexity but a foreseeable failure of risk management. “No complexity. No accident. 10/10 was caused by irresponsible marketing campaigns by certain companies,” he stated. Xu claimed that the Binance user-acquisition campaign for Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, encouraged excessive leverage. He argued that this created a systemic fragility that collapsed under market stress. According to the OKX chief executive, Binance offered a 12% annual yield on USDe. This allowed users to collateralize the asset on terms comparable to those of traditional stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. No complexity. No accident.10/10 was caused by irresponsible marketing campaigns by certain companies.On October 10, tens of billions of dollars were liquidated. As CEO of OKX, we observed clearly that the crypto market’s microstructure fundamentally changed after that day.… pic.twitter.com/N1VlY4F7rt— Star (@star_okx) January 31, 2026 Xu argued that this created a “leveraged loop” in which traders converted standard stablecoins into USDe to farm yield. He claimed this activity artificially inflated the token’s perceived APY to rates as high as 70%. “This campaign allowed users to leverage USDe as collateral with the same treatment as USDT and USDC without effective limits,” Xu wrote. Unlike traditional stablecoins backed by cash equivalents, USDe employs a delta-neutral hedging strategy that Xu described as carrying “hedge-fund-level structural risks.” When volatility struck on October 10, Xu asserts that this leverage unwound violently. The resulting depeg of USDe triggered a cascade of liquidations ...