What was originally a routine announcement from the global exchange quickly escalated into renewed debate over one of crypto’s longest-running executive feuds, and accidentally placing the Philippines squarely at its center:
- On one side is Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who is attempting to formally re-enter Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing crypto market.
- On another is former Binance Chief Financial Officer Wei Zhou, who now leads Coins.ph, the country’s largest and first licensed cryptocurrency exchange.
- Completing the triangle is OKX founder Star Xu, whose latest public criticism of Binance has reignited years-old tensions involving both executives.
Here’s how it is currently playing out.
Binance’s Return to the Philippines
The latest chapter began when Binance Co-Founder Yi He announced on X that the exchange had “officially entered the Philippines,” following months of work with fintech firm BlockShoals under the Philippine SEC’s regulatory sandbox. Binance supplies the technology; a BSP-licensed Virtual Asset Service Provider will handle the regulated transaction rails.
It’s Binance’s latest attempt to rebuild a formal presence in the country after Philippine regulators issued an advisory against the exchange in late 2023 and internet service providers blocked access to Binance’s website in 2024.
To most observers, it looked like routine regulatory progress news. Instead, it reopened one of crypto’s oldest rivalries.
Star Xu Fans the Flames
In the days before Binance’s announcement, OKX founder and CEO Star Xu had been publicly hammering Zhao over the October 2025 market turmoil, arguing the industry still lacks a real explanation for one of crypto’s largest liquidation events.
He accused Binance of failing to address the fallout and criticized its governance and risk management, dismissing suggestions his criticism was personal jealousy: “I’m not jealous of him. I’m ashamed of him.” He also claimed Zhao’s new memoir contains false statements about him and offered to debate the history publicly.
The two have clashed on and off since Zhao left then-OKCoin to found Binance in 2017.
Wei Zhou Gets Pulled In
Star then amplified comments made by former Binance CFO Wei Zhou, who hadn’t addressed the Philippine Binance news directly but had argued that unresolved questions about Binance’s transparency after October 2025 were still denting investor confidence. Star used the remarks to bolster his own case against Binance, thus pulling one of Binance’s former top executives into their feud.
Zhou wasn’t interested: “Dont drag me into your fight bro.” That, however, did little to quiet things, especially in Chinese-language crypto communities, where attention quickly turned to Zhou’s Philippine ties.
The Coins.ph Connection
The Philippines represents more than a regulatory story for Zhou.
Joffre Capital acquired Coins.ph from Indonesian unicorn GoJek in 2022 for roughly $200 million; Zhou, part of the investor group, became CEO afterward. Since then, Coins.ph has solidified its position as the country’s top regulated crypto platform under central bank licensing and used that base to expand into Australia, Europe, Brazil, and elsewhere.
That means Binance’s renewed push now lands in a market led by its own former CFO. In his memoir, Zhao accused Zhou of previously trying to block Binance’s Philippine expansion, which the local executive denied. (Read More: Exclusive: CZ Accuses Former Binance Exec of Blocking PH Entry; Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou Denies Allegations)
Star Xu has no real operational footprint in the Philippines himself, though the SEC has also issued an advisory against OKX for running unlicensed marketing promotions here. However, his amplification of Zhou’s comments still dragged the country into the Binance rivalry.
The situation quickly became a talking point across Chinese-language crypto communities.
Some commentators argued that Wei Zhou’s criticism of Binance should be viewed in the context of his leadership of the local exchange and his complicated history with his former employer.
Several users also criticized and accused Star Xu for cherry-picking Zhou’s market commentary without acknowledging the broader history between the former Binance executive and the exchange; still others said Zhou’s remarks lent Star’s broader criticism more weight.
Why the Philippines Matters
For years, while the Philippines was viewed primarily as one of Asia’s fastest-growing crypto adoption markets, it is still perceived as just another market in the global crypto map.
Today, however, it has become the stage for the industry’s biggest titans and their unresolved history to continue to collide.
For Changpeng Zhao, it represents a market Binance has spent years trying to re-enter through a regulated pathway.
For Wei Zhou, it is where he began his post-Binance chapter, transforming the country’s leading licensed digital asset platform, and from there serving as a jumping board to expand into other markets.
For Star Xu, it has unexpectedly become another front in his long-running public rivalry with Zhao.
It is going to be an interesting second half of 2026 for crypto in the Philippines.
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This article is published on BitPinas: [Op-Ed] CZ, Wei Zhou, Star Xu: Why the Philippines is Now at the Unexpected Center of Crypto’s Biggest Feuds
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