Binance to Sue ‘The Block’ over Alleged Fake News

After initially being unwilling to sue the news platform The Block for spreading false information about Binance as it would be ‘a bit too much trouble for now,’ CEO Changpeng Zhao changed his mind after the platform published a completely unwarranted follow-up article defending its position.

The Block, a cryptocurrency online news platform, recently reported that Binance offices were raided by the Chinese police. The news that the exchange’s Shanghai offices were raided were reported at the same time as various platforms published articles concerning a major Chinese ‘crypto clampdown.’ However, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, stated that no such thing as a police raid happened and that he will take legal action against The Block.

Both news pieces caused the price of Bitcoin to plummet down to $7,000 on Friday and several traders and analysts now believe that the BTC price will have to deal with even more selling pressure. Furthermore, Zhao believes that the article dealt a heavy blow to the exchange’s reputation and even though he initially did not seek to sue the publication and was only going to ask for an apology, he changed his mind after The Block released a follow-up article defending its position.

Changpeng Zhao wrote: “Instead of apologizing to the community for the fake news headlines of the non-existent ‘police raid,’ which damaged our reputation, and $btc price, theBlock now tries to argue if there was an office, if CZ had a meeting… who cares? Own up & apologize for your mistake.”

As an additional reaction to the event, Zhao proposed that a crypto fund should be created, which would be used for defending against the spread of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). The founder of Tron, Justin Sun, quickly shared his enthusiasm for the fund and stated that he would donate 100 BTC (worth around $716,000 at the time of writing).

The co-founder of The Block, Mike Dudas, responded to the creation of the fund by stating that it is an attempt to inflict damage upon press freedom.

“Two of the wealthiest men in cryptocurrency plan to raise a ‘FUD fighting fund’ worth more than $1 million, presumably to wield as an implicit threat against journalists who report facts that run contrary to their business interests,” said Dudas.