Crypto Exchanges
By Steven Anderson
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Viral Post Forces Response. Bullrich took his frustration to social media, tagging Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and co-CEO…
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System Built Without Edge Cases. Binance rolled out biometric authentication back in 2022.
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Esteban Bullrich can't move his face the way he used to. ALS took that from him. And Binance's facial recognition system couldn't figure out who he was anymore.
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The former Argentine senator—who ran the country's education ministry from 2015 through 2017—got locked out of his account for five months straight.
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Bullrich took his frustration to social media, tagging Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and co-CEO Richard Teng directly. That's when things moved.
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The whole thing revealed a pretty big blind spot. Binance Argentina admitted it was an accessibility failure after the post blew up online. They said they'd make improvements.
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Binance rolled out biometric authentication back in 2022. By December 2025, the exchange had crossed 300 million registered users.
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ALS attacks muscle control. Facial muscles included. Over time, the disease changes a person's appearance in ways that facial recognition software can't always track.
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Binance's standard support process didn't solve the problem either. Bullrich stayed locked out for months, watching Bitcoin's price fall, unable to access his holdings.
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The exchange's Argentine team reached out after Teng got involved, trying to fix Bullrich's situation and promising to prevent similar cases going forward. But the damage was done.
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See also: Galaxy Digital Moves 45, 000 ETH Worth $104M to Major Exchanges
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Other platforms face similar challenges. Biometric systems are convenient for most users, but they create barriers for people whose physical characteristics change over time.
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Bullrich's experience sparked conversation about how accessible digital finance platforms really are for people with disabilities.
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The speed of Binance's response once the issue went public was notable. Teng moved fast after seeing the post. But that raises questions too.
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There's no word yet on when Binance will roll out a permanent fix. The company said it would address accessibility gaps, but didn't commit to a timeline or describe what the…
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