A former Argentine senator with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) says Binance’s facial ID system stopped recognizing him after the illness modified his look.
Esteban Bullrich, who served as Argentina’s Minister of Schooling from 2015 to 2017 below former president Mauricio Macri, claimed the trade froze his crypto holdings for 5 months whereas bitcoin (BTC) declined from the $90,000s to the $70,000s.
Finally, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng personally intervened after his criticism went viral on social media. .
Esteban, I noticed your put up and wished to reply personally. I am sorry this occurred. I am dedicated to creating certain we repair this accessibility hole for each person who faces related challenges. Thanks for talking up.
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) April 28, 2026
The 56-year-old, who revealed his analysis in April 2021, wrote that Binance’s Face ID had stopped recognizing him 5 months in the past.
He stated the corporate supplied no accessible various for customers along with his sort of incapacity.
Happily, his put up, tagged to founder Changpeng Zhao and Teng, gained their consideration.
300 million customers earlier than a Binance ID repair for ALS
Binance crossed 300 million registered customers in December 2025 three years after it rolled out biometric authentication on its cell app in 2022, in line with Clarín, the Argentine outlet that broke the story.
Bullrich’s lockout, nevertheless, uncovered a fundamental engineering oversight. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative illness that paralyzes muscle groups, together with these within the face.
Anybody designing a biometric identification stack ought to have anticipated that faces generally morph resulting from muscular adjustments.
This oversight price Bullrich dearly. BTC was buying and selling above $90,000 in December 2025 when his lockout started, and has since slid into the $70,000s. Different digital property have carried out even worse.
Binance Argentina replied on the identical day Bullrich’s put up went viral, saying its group was reaching out immediately.
It stated it was escalating the matter as an accessibility failure that wanted correcting and thanked him for talking up.
That admission considerably undercuts the apology. A viral social put up forces a public assertion that the extraordinary help queue couldn’t repair in 150 days.
