Wintermute's Evgeny Gaevoy says the market maker isn't suing Binance and 'never had plans to'

Evgeny Gaevoy, chief executive officer and founder of crypto market maker and trading firm Wintermute, has pushed back against rumors that his firm is preparing a lawsuit against Binance in the aftermath of the massive October market crash.

"literally nothing changed since this tweet and we never had plans to sue binance, nor see any reason to do it in future," Gaevoy said on X, recirculating a post he made on Oct. 11 stating Wintermute had survived the largest liquidation event in crypto history the evening before.

In the aftermath of the Oct. 10 market crash that erased over $20 billion in leveraged crypto positions, some onlookers — perhaps remembering the market contagion of 2022 — have raised concerns that a major market maker or trading firm may have suffered existential losses.

Experts told The Block's Yogita Khatri shortly after October's crash that losses hit traders, market makers, and centralized exchanges alike and were primarily driven by the record high open interest in crypto markets before the pullback.

Gaevoy responded directly to a WhalePump thread claiming the market maker was threatening to sue Binance, calling the accusation "complete bullshit."

That said, in an episode of The Block's "Big Brain" podcast in late October, Gaevoy said some of Wintermute’s liquidated positions were "very strange" and happened at a "completely ridiculous price."

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by volume, paid out $283 million to some traders after the crash caused USDe, BNSOL, and WBETH to depeg on its platform. It also launched a $400 million initiative to refund users, including $100 million set aside for low-interest loans for institutional users "restart their trading."

It's unclear whether Wintermute received reimbursement from Binance. Gaevoy noted on the Saturday following the liquidation event that Wintermute was "perfectly fine."

Wintermute is one of Binance’s largest liquidity providers and appears to have moved $700 million onto Binance hours before the crash. Gaevoy noted on "Big Brain" that the firm withdrew "roughly the same amount."