Binance's current CEO, Changpeng Zhao (commonly known as CZ), said he is filing a lawsuit against Bloomberg's Hong Kong subsidiary, Modern Media Company.
In question? An article that appeared on June 23, titled “Can Crypto's Richest Man Stand The Cold?”. This article would be allegedly defamatory and unfounded statements, damaging the image of the famous cryptocurrency purchasing platform as well as its founder.
An article that does not meet CZ's expectations
Shortly after the article was published, Changpeng Zhao had already expressed his displeasure via Twitter.
The founder of Binance had notably declared that this article did not correspond in any way to what had been announced to him and that this one had been clearly oriented in order to present him and his company in a bad light.
To do this, the positive comments would have been deliberately omitted, while the negatives would have been privileged, even if they were old, according to CZ's statements.
Binance takes Bloomberg to court
In addition to this supposed journalistic bias, the article would contain, still according to CZ, various defamatory remarks implying that Binance and Zhao would have “engaged in illegal or questionable activities”.
The complaint refers in particular to the following facts:
Mention of an anonymous trader claiming that Binance is like a “giant shitcoin casino” without substantiating the claim or providing proof, and without the possibility of verifying his identity.
Claims that fraud, hacking, and money laundering are an integral part of cryptocurrency history and even big business, implying that Binance could be one of them.
The Chinese article adds a layer
If the original article was enough to annoy Changpeng Zhao, the resulting Chinese translation certainly did not help to calm the situation, having even added fuel to the fire.
Thus, the Chinese edition of the 250th issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, whose initial title was the following: “The Ponzi Scheme of Changpeng Zhao”, left little room for doubt or interpretation. The worst part is that the article did not in any way prove this assertion, which could therefore be considered pure defamation.
Bloomberg tries to calm things down
In an attempt to ease tensions following the release of the Chinese edition, Bloomberg Businessweek's editor invited Binance to contact Modern Media, the publisher behind this translation and an official Bloomberg partner. in Hong Kong.
Following this, an agreement was reached between Binance and Modern Media, leading to the return of the physical copies as well as the deletion of the messages relating to this article.
However, the cryptocurrency exchange believes that the agreement was not fully fulfilled, as it was still possible to obtain the 250th issue of the magazine, the only difference being the title, changed to "The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao”.
This is how a complaint was filed against Modern Media, in Hong Kong, while a filing was also made against Bloomberg, in New York.
CZ also insisted that Modern Media is a company with strong influence and that these remarks would contribute to spreading hatred towards it and damaging its reputation.
It's not the first time this has happened
Between CZ and the media, love is definitely not looking good. Indeed, the founder of Binance had already filed a complaint against Forbes, another major media, for a similar reason.
The targeted article claimed that Binance was carrying out activities illegally in order to evade regulations and generate more money.
However, this complaint was dropped within a few months. Moreover, CZ does not seem to have a tenacious grudge, insofar as, barely a year later, Binance announced to inject the tidy sum of 200 million dollars in order to become a shareholder of the famous American magazine.
So, who knows, maybe this conflict with Bloomberg will end the same way.
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