Binance

On November 21, The Block published an article wherein it said that Binance’s Shanghai office had been raided by the police and shut down. The article did not include the source of the information, or any conclusive proof that the event had happened. Binance responded by saying that they had “no fixed office in Shanghai”. The crypto market crashed following the news and the top coins tumbled down in double digits. Now, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is looking at teaching The Block a lesson for their FUD-creating article.

Apology Not Accepted Because There Was None

Apparently, CZ was expecting The Block to apologize for their FUD-creating article. However, The Block did not apologize, but simply said that it was going to stand by its sources and its report of the Binance Shanghai office having shut down. However, in the statement, it missed mentioning anything about the police raid.

In spite of other outlets uncritically reporting Binance's official line on the matter, The Block stands by our sources and reporting that Binance’s Shanghai office was shut down.



In the name of transparency, we've unpaywalled the article.https://t.co/qKX7zyq73A — The Block (@TheBlock__) November 21, 2019

Also, the Block published another detailed article in which it shared information about the addresses of Binance’s Shanghai offices, thereby refuting CZ’s claims of “no office”. It also revealed information about how it had verified that one of the offices was operational until very recently.

But, as far as the police raid is concerned, it could not prove that it had actually happened. All it managed to say was –

Following our initial reporting, another source corroborated that officials had visited one of the offices prior to the shutdown.

Thus, the The Block could not prove conclusively that a police raid had actually happened. It also updated its previous story and headline “to reflect the ambiguity”. The new headline reads –

Binance’s Shanghai office shut down following visit by authorities, sources say

Misha Lederman, a crypto consultant also shared that Frank Chaparro, the News Director at The Block will address their usage of the language ‘police raid’” in Binance Shanghai office story.

Also, Mike Dudas, the CEO of Block Crypto responded on CZ’s tweet that The Block stands behind its reporting.

However, Binance received no apology from The Block for the FUD their article had article.

Instead of apologizing to the community for the fake headline news 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. https://t.co/PWjQ7FzEc6 — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 23, 2019

Now, CZ is planning to teach The Block a lesson. He will be suing The Block.

The story has already outraged among the crypto community and people have lashed out against The Block. The news platform’s reputation has suffered because of the public reaction, and the lawsuit, if it happens, will only add worsen things for The Block. It remains to be be seen if Binance already has or will file a lawsuit against The Block and on what grounds, and how The Block reacts to it.



