Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), stated publicly, via a tweet, that they are planning to sue The Block, a cryptocurrency news site, for spreading misinformation about the exchange. This was in response to an article published on the site claiming that Binance offices in Shanghai, China were closed down after a police raid.
CZ took exception to the site’s reporting, especially the use of the words ‘police raid’ which in his words never happened, terming it as FAKE NEWS. According to CZ, the article contained misinformation and was intended to create Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) about Binance.
The Binance CEO responded just hours after the article was published stating that
No police, no raid, no office. Hope you didn’t pay to read that FUD block.’
This sparked a Twitter feud between CZ and a number of The Block’s key figures including Mike Dudas, Frank Chaparro, and Larry Cernak all standing by the original reporting. The Block’s team took exception from CZ claims that Binance did not have an office in China, stating that the CEO was also lying.
This resulted in a heated exchange between both parties and the crypto fraternity quickly jumped onto the bandwagon. There was considerable support and criticism going either way as the crypto community rallied behind whichever organization they felt was truthful, or at least wronged. The escalated exchange was even featured in mainstream Chinese news seeking to unearth the truth behind the multiple contentious issues raised by both parties.
Following pressure from Binance and the crypto community, The Block updated their original article title to
Binance’s Shanghai office shut down following visit by authorities, sources say
Noticeably, the updated version removed the words ‘police raid’ that were the original sources of controversy. Interestingly, The Block maintained their reporting that Binance had offices in Shangai, a claim they stated was confirmed by multiple sources.
The Block’s own sources and public information demonstrate that CZ’s statement is false. In fact, it appears that there were two Shanghai offices at which Binance employees worked during the past two years.
The news and the following public feud between a leading crypto exchange and a leading crypto news site were definitely bound to have an effect on the market. Bitcoin and the entire crypto market took hits as prices of most cryptocurrencies fell by double digits amid a panicked sell off. Binance Coin (BNB) too was not spared and exchange reputation was put to question leading the CEO to double down and vow to pursue legal action against The Block.
The CEO lamented at the increase of FUD, especially from within the crypto community stating that it does more harm than good. He further tweeted that all crypto projects should spare some funds for fighting FUD. Tron Founder, Justin Sun, agreed with these sentiments promising to kick start a fund for fighting FUD with 100BTC. This was well received by CZ who also promised to make a similar, albeit expensive, commitment of 100BTC towards the fund to make the Fudders pay.
Image by Crypto Dost from flickr
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