- Changpeng Zhao has called out Reuters for publishing a libelous article on the exchange.
- The tech leader claims that Reuters does not have concrete evidence for its claims.
- “Reputation is the most valuable asset,” says Zhao.
CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, has accused Reuters of publishing a smear article about the exchange. “Fake or real news? ” asked the tech billionaire in a Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) post referring to an article featured in the global news outlet’s online portal. The article in question, titled “Binance served crypto traders in Iran despite U.S. sanctions, clients say,” was written by journalists Tom Wilson and Angus Berwick.
Even though the title and much of the article state that Binance processed trades by clients in Iran despite US sanctions, it also mentions that Iranian traders skirted the imposed ban without Binance’s knowledge.
According to the piece, fraudulent traders continued to use their Binance accounts until losing access after the exchange tightened its anti-money laundering checks. However, the authors imply that Binance could have known about these Iranian users but chose to willfully ignore it.
Fake or real news? Reuters VS YCombinator.Headline: “Binance served crypto traders in Iran despite US sanctions”Content: “Binance banned Iranian users after sanctions, 7 got missed/found a workaround, they were banned later anyways”https://t.co/U954spJwIz— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) July 11, 2022
In one of the responses on the Twitter thread, Zhao says that he thinks that the writers could have been incentivized by other crypto players to write the slanderous article. He cites the lack of concrete evidence within the article as an indication that it was written merely to discredit the exchange. But then he quickly added, “Now, I am spreading rumors, like them. So, I will stop there.”
Twitterati, as usual, had some very interesting responses to Zhao’s tweet about the misleading article. “Reuters editors are like crazy ex gf that keep spreading fud,” said one user. “Reuters are (sic) always looking for ways to get clicks,” said another. “The grind for clickbait headlines is real,” stated yet another Twitter user.
This is perhaps the latest in a long string of defamatory news written about Binance in the past few weeks. Just recently, Zhao called out CoinGape for publishing a factually incorrect article.