Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has dismissed a recent Bloomberg report tying him to a stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial (WLF), one of the crypto entities linked to United States President Donald Trump. The prominent crypto figure accused Bloomberg of defamation and threatened to drag the firm to court for the second time in the past three years.
Binance CEO Threatens To Sue Bloomberg Again
In a July 11 report, Bloomberg claimed that the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, helped design the smart contract code behind the WLF stablecoin (USD1). The report also mentioned how USD1 was allegedly used in a $2-billion investment deal involving an Abu Dhabi-based firm.
CZ, who pleaded guilty to one felony count as part of a settlement deal with the US Department of Justice, recently reported that he was seeking a federal pardon from President Trump. Bloomberg implied in Friday’s report that the Binance co-founder sought a pardon after the exchange facilitated a large transaction using WLF’s stablecoin — hinting at a possible conflict of interest.
Zhao responded on X:
FUD. Bloomberg just wrote another hit piece (sponsored by a competitor) containing so many factual errors I don’t even know where to begin. Might have to sue them again for defamation.
In his post on X, CZ referenced a previous legal dispute with Bloomberg, who wrote an apology to the Binance co-founder and donated an agreed sum to a Special Education Foundation in 2024. We have journalistic standards that should, and will, be better. “To that end, we will not publish or make any allegations to the same or similar effect, in any manner whatsoever,” a part of the apology read.
Source: @cz_binance on X
It appears that the former Binance CEO will be following a similar path soon, suing the finance behemoth for defamation for the second time in a few years.
Is CZ Being Targeted?
It appears Bloomberg is not the only financial media company to have recently published a “hit piece” on CZ. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article in May, claiming that Zhao helped “facilitate” some introductions for the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial’s foreign travels.
At the time, CZ denied being a fixer and connecting the WLF’s foreign travel team to a certain Mr. Saqib. According to the Binance co-founder, he and the entire crypto industry are being targeted by certain forces who do not want the success of the digital asset sector in the United States.
The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured image from Binance, chart from TradingView
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