May 16th, Binance co-founder He Yi responded that it is stupid of some media ridiculously claiming Binance is creating a blockchain-powered country.

The article, published by Yibencaijing, a Chinese FinTech self-media with some reputation in the country, said,

according to people familiar with the matter, Binance has bought an island and is ready to issue a digital currency as the legal tender of the island, it even aims bigger to create a blockchain-powered country where blockchain applications yet to come will be trialed there. It is named the “Genesis Plan”.

It sounds like something out of a science fiction. Released on the evening of May 15, the article soon got spread overnight on many top Chinese portal websites including ifeng.com, sohu.com, 36Kr, etc.

Regarding this, Binance co-founder and COO He Yi made a response denouncing it,

“the article is maliciously tarnishing the image of Binance and cause regulators in the country to have a bad impression on Binance. To create a country? It is absolutely absurd to fabricate such a story. We do actively work on the legalization of blockchain and digital currency in a plurality of countries over the world. When a company grows to be (one of) the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the industry, what in its mind is about the development of the entire industry, not just the company’s revenue. We are very honored to serve as the consultant of blockchain and digital currency for Malta, Bermuda, Uganda and other countries, to help them improve the regulatory system in this nascent area. Currently Bermuda has passed the proposed bill pertaining to virtual currency businesses, and some more countries and regions are on the way.”

Binance has been seeking partnerships with several islands like Malta and Bermuda to promote cryptocurrency. Silvio Schembri, Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy & Innovation within the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta, commented that,

“Binance’s decision is a vote of confidence in what we’re offering as a country and as a Government in this sector, that is legal certainty in this space… We are not shying away but instead want to unleash the opportunities that holds by regulating the sector without stifling innovation. Ultimately our vision is to make Malta ‘The Blockchain Island’.”

“Malta wants to be the blockchain island, so does Bermuda, but it doesn’t mean Binance is ‘buying an island to establish a country’. It’s quite another thing.” He Yi continued.

Binance is under the spotlight recently, and its COO is busy making clarifications these days. A week ago Yi made a quick response to panic speculations saying Binance’s narrowing on listing projects with links with Sequoia. And CEO of Huobi and OKCoin, two of the big three crypto exchanges, were seen in pleasant talks over dinner, some bitcoiners joked that Huobi and OKCoin had never been so close and apparently Changpeng Zhao/Binance was forgotten.

Huobi CEO Li Lin (left) and OKCoin CEO Xu Mingxing (right) at the dinner

According to coinmarketcap.com, at the press time, Binance Coin is at the price of $12.16, dropping 7.00% in 24h and ranking 22th by market cap.