• Trump’s 2025 crypto agenda aims to crown the US as global leader—but critics see control.
• Ray Youssef alleges Binance is now a US tool for a “controlled demolition” of crypto.
• He warns Binance’s fall could trigger chaos, enabling a new centralized financial order.

Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the United States has taken bold steps to advance crypto adoption in 2025, from passing the GENIUS Act to ramping up efforts to regulate the digital asset industry. The efforts align with Trump’s promise to make the nation the “crypto capital of the world.” 

But is this genuine progress, or is something else unfolding behind the scenes? Ray Youssef, CEO of the P2P trading platform NoOnes, believes it’s the latter. In a recent BeInCrypto podcast episode, he claimed the US is preparing a “controlled demolition of the entire crypto industry” and Binance could play a key role in it.

Binance’s Journey: Growth, Legal Battles, and a Presidential Pardon

Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in 2017 in China. The company later relocated its operations due to the country’s tightening regulations on digital assets.

In just 6 months, Binance became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by trading volume, a position it continues to hold. CoinGecko data showed that the exchange offers access to more than 400 cryptocurrencies and 1,600 trading pairs.

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Nonetheless, Binance’s growth has been accompanied by regulatory challenges. Authorities in the US accused the founder of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an effective anti-money-laundering (AML) program and breaching economic sanctions.

In 2023, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty, agreeing to pay a $50 million fine. At the same time,  Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion, one of the largest corporate penalties ever imposed. In addition, CZ also served a 4-month prison sentence in 2024.

Zhao was released in mid-2024 and remained outside the United States, barred from holding any executive position at Binance. A US compliance monitor was installed inside the exchange, a move that symbolized a transfer of control for Youssef. 

“He served time in America. He served time with Uncle Sam, gave Uncle Sam $4 billion. The first thing that Uncle Sam said was, ‘Hey, you got to not just serve time, give us $4 billion, but you have to put a US compliance monitor in the company. People that know compliance know what that means. That means this guy actually runs Binance. That’s why you’re having the KYC every two weeks on Binance. They run the company. It’s not the Chinese folks. It’s Uncle Sam that runs Binance,” Youssef told BeInCrypto.

Furthermore, last week, President Trump pardoned CZ, erasing his felony record and restoring his rights to operate in the country. The White House framed the decision as ending “Biden’s war on crypto.” Still, it raises questions about a deeper connection between Binance and the US establishment.

“CZ has aligned himself with Uncle Sam. And the Trump family and they’re in on this together. The Chinese are not this stupid, not this criminal, and they’re not gangsters. But Uncle Sam is, and that’s who CZ is working with,” he added.

The “Controlled Demolition” Theory

For Youssef, Binance’s link with the United States is not a sign of progress but a warning. He claims the exchange has become a controlled asset that will eventually be used to trigger a market collapse.

Interestingly, the entrepreneur pointed out that the playbook isn’t new. In his words, FTX was supposed to serve that role first, a state-sponsored collapse. 

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“Binance is becoming is the next FTX or what FTX should have been,” he stated.

The executive emphasized that FTX’s implosion happened ahead of schedule, forcing the state to look elsewhere. In his view, Binance’s downfall will be the next contingency, carefully timed to cause maximum impact, a crash severe enough to destroy trust across the entire sector.

“When CZ burst the bubble on FTX, the damage was really basically 1% of what the state planned it to be. Now they’re going to use Binance as that they’re going to make that corpse explode right in our face,” Youssef mentioned to BeInCrypto.

He also forecasted that the collapse of Binance would be a thousand times worse than FTX. According to him, 

“Binance is going to be a state control demolition of the entire industry. Let me say that again. A controlled demolition of the entire industry right before our very eyes.”

Why the US Would Want The Crypto Market to Fall

Why would the US want to destroy the very industry it helped nurture? The answer may lie in the control of the monetary system.

Every government’s power depends on its ability to control currency circulation. Cryptocurrencies, borderless, programmable, and outside traditional banking, threaten that control. 

“They want to weaken all the state currencies. They want to usher in their own new global currency. For that to happen, there has to be desperation, poverty, and you know, a lot of instability and chaos. And what better way to do that than by bringing down the entire crypto market with a controlled demolition of the biggest exchange,” he noted.

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Youssef stressed that the US is not simply trying to regulate this new system; it’s trying to own it. By embedding itself within Binance, the world’s largest exchange, Washington can steer global liquidity, monitor user flows, and influence price discovery.

What was once designed as an independent, user-powered market becomes a state-guided infrastructure.

“So, they actually want this bloated powder keg to blow. So, then it can usher in massive confusion, and guess what? They’re going to have their new monetary system and new financial system, the two separate systems ready to go when that happens,” he forecasted.

Can The Crypto Market Survive Another Collapse?

Nonetheless, even if Binance were to fall, it won’t be the first time the sector has faced a setback. The crypto market has endured the collapse of Mt. Gox, ICO busts, and countless rug pulls. Each time, it emerged stronger, more decentralized, and more aware of its core mission.

Still, Youssef warned that this time could be different. He described the current situation as a long-term game of control, not a short-term regulatory crackdown. The NoOnes CEO compared it to the sweeping financial changes that followed 9/11, when governments used crises to justify tighter monitoring.

“Before 9/11, you could walk into any Charles Schwab office in New York, put cash on the table, buy any stock without even showing ID. After 911, that changed,” he said.

According to Youssef, the same logic applies to crypto. Each major scandal, from Mt. Gox to FTX,  has led to new laws such as the Travel Rule, the GENIUS Act, and Operation Chokepoint initiatives. The next big collapse of Binance, he warns, could give regulators the excuse to lock down the entire industry.

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He foresees a split world: centralized exchanges “going with the man,” and only a handful of decentralized platforms left to operate freely until they, too, are forced to comply. Youssef pointed out that even DEXs are not fully independent, since they still follow sanction lists and blacklists. 

“It’s going to completely fracture the entire industry, where only a few places like Silk Road will exist, and the vast majority of humanity will be under their control. That’s what they’re planning.   They make power moves, and we’re just looking, you know, a couple of weeks ahead. They’re looking at least 20 years ahead. They absolutely can get to a place where they can exert a dominant control effect, and they’re about to get there. It’s amazing to me that people don’t see it,” he commented.

Beyond Binance: The Real War

Ultimately, the war Youssef describes isn’t just about one company or country. It’s a philosophical conflict between centralized authority and decentralized freedom. He warns that if the industry keeps depending on centralized players, it will eventually lose the very independence it was built to protect.

“You’re going to help lead the destruction of humanity if you continue to be a Binance user. We need to step back away from centralized control, which has got us in this same mess in the first place,” Youssef disclosed to BeInCrypto.

He urges users to:

• Withdraw funds from centralized exchanges.
• Adopt self-custody and decentralized platforms.
• Abandon leverage trading.

For him, the solution isn’t waiting for regulators or justice but collective responsibility.

“We are the people. We choose where to put our money, where to use our money, where to spend our money,” he noted.

Whether or not Youssef’s theory proves true, his warning captures the tension at crypto’s heart: an innovation born to escape control now risks becoming its instrument. Perhaps the real question isn’t why the US wants to destroy crypto, but whether crypto will let itself be destroyed.

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