Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao is calling out mainstream media for spreading false stories about him and Binance US.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a report claiming Trump’s family was discussing a financial deal with Binance US, and that CZ had been pushing for a presidential pardon after his legal troubles in the U.S.
CZ fired back in an X post today, saying the story was completely fake and accusing the media of trying to manipulate public perception against crypto and Trump’s administration.
The WSJ article alleged that Trump’s family had been in talks about taking a stake in Binance US. It said Binance reached out to Trump allies last year, aiming to re-enter the U.S. market after the company’s legal troubles.
The report suggested that the deal could have gone through World Liberty Financial (WLF), a crypto venture linked to the Trump family that launched in September.
The article also said that Steve Witkoff, a longtime Trump associate who is currently his top Middle East and Ukraine negotiator, had been involved in the discussions.
But an administration official denied this, saying Witkoff was already divesting from his business interests, and the WSJ failed to provide any concrete proof that the talks led to an actual deal.
CZ shuts down the claims, calls out Bloomberg and WSJ
CZ wasted no time responding. He took to X to completely shut down the WSJ report, calling it fabricated and saying the journalists behind it were desperate to find a scandal.
“Sorry to disappoint,” CZ wrote. “The WSJ article got the facts wrong. More than 20 people told me they were asked by the WSJ (and another media) if they could confirm that I made some deal for a pardon. They probably asked hundreds of people to get 20 to reach out to me. They tried hard to make a story to report,’” CZ wrote.
He made it clear that he had never discussed any Binance US deal with anyone and added that no felon would turn down a pardon, especially considering he was the only person in U.S. history to serve time for a single BSA charge.
He also pointed out that the story seemed politically motivated, suggesting it was an attack on Trump and crypto.
“Feels like the article is motivated as an attack on the President and crypto, and the residual forces of the ‘war on crypto’ from the last administration are still at work,” CZ said.
Bloomberg then followed up with their own report, making similar vague allegations. But CZ called them out too. “Bloomberg was the ‘another media’ in my earlier post. They just published their baseless hit piece after WSJ, with statements like: ‘It’s not clear what stage the discussions have reached or whether they’ll result in any transactions or ventures.’”
“‘The substance of the meeting with Zhao isn’t clear.’ They basically admitted that their whole article is purely imaginary. Is this what ‘news’ has become?”
He also denied any connection to World Liberty Financial or the people mentioned in the WSJ article. “Fact: I/Binance have no business deals with WLF or the people mentioned in their article. We also did not buy any of the WLF coins.”
CZ reminds Bloomberg of its history of false reports
CZ took the opportunity to remind everyone about Bloomberg’s track record of false reporting about him. Back in July 2024, Bloomberg had to issue a formal apology after CZ sued them for defamation.
The lawsuit stemmed from a 2022 article in Bloomberg Businessweek’s Chinese edition, which falsely claimed that CZ was running a Ponzi scheme.
“In our 250th issue (July 6, 2022), we made the egregious mistake of publishing a cover page with a headline that was false and baseless,” Bloomberg’s apology read.
“We were wrong to write ‘Changpeng Zhao’s Ponzi Scheme.’ We retract and withdraw this offensive statement without reservation and apologize unreservedly for any harm or distress caused to Mr. Zhao and Binance, the organization he founded,” Bloomberg admitted.
But CZ pointed out the hypocrisy in how Bloomberg handled the apology. Instead of publishing it in the same high-profile manner as the original false report, Bloomberg buried the apology on a corporate website.
“They published their false claim on the cover of their magazine, but their apology was hidden on their HK corporate website,” CZ noted. He also revealed that the original headline was changed after he filed the lawsuit.
“The English version of the magazine cover asked, ‘Can … stand the cold?’ But the Chinese version said, ‘Zhao’s Ponzi Scheme.’ After we filed the lawsuit, they changed it to ‘Mysterious CZ’,” the Binance co-founder argued.
Even in their apology text, Bloomberg carefully avoided mentioning their own name, a move CZ called out.
“Their English apology doesn’t even say ‘Bloomberg’ once. But if you Google Translate their Chinese version, it clearly says ‘Bloomberg Businessweek/Chinese Edition Apology Notice’ at the top,” CZ said.
Despite all this, Bloomberg is still publishing what CZ calls baseless hit pieces against him today. “Even after that whole two-year legal battle, they are still at it.”
To wrap up his post, CZ took a final jab at both WSJ and Bloomberg, pointing out that: “On the bright side, we got two traditional (anti-Trump, anti-crypto) media outlets all thinking I should get a pardon. Inshallah!”
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