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Binance Co-Founder CZ Slams Mainstream Media FUD

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Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao used an look at Blockchain Summit 2026 to push again sharply in opposition to what he described as a brand new wave of deceptive mainstream protection, arguing that current reporting about his wealth and alleged hyperlinks to Iran-related illicit finance rests on false premises and recycled hostility towards crypto.

In the interview, Zhao mentioned the difficulty shouldn’t be merely robust press, however what he sees as a sample of narratives constructed on claims that don’t maintain up. “Some of the issues the media say as we speak about me are simply utterly off,” he mentioned. “Forbes tries to color me as richer, getting richer over the past six months, which isn’t attainable. I don’t know the way they made that calculation.”

He then turned to the extra critical accusation: “The Wall Street Journal says I’m someway making an attempt to facilitate terrorist financing in Iran. I’ve zero curiosity in doing that. I stay in a rustic that’s being attacked by Iran, proper? And even earlier than that, I used to be simply not all for that.”

Why Binance’s CZ Blasts Media FUD

Those remarks got here days after Forbes published its 2026 billionaire ranking estimating Zhao’s fortune at roughly $110 billion, sufficient to position him above Bill Gates and mark a roughly $47 billion improve from the prior 12 months. Zhao publicly disputed the determine, saying the mathematics made little sense in a 12 months when crypto costs had already fallen sharply from their highs.

In a submit on X, he wrote: “Crypto costs dropped by greater than 50% in 2026 already. And my internet price went up? Wish they will apply some frequent sense and fundamental logic.”

For Zhao, that estimate seems to have turn out to be a logo of a broader criticism: that mainstream retailers nonetheless desire extremes when overlaying crypto figures, whether or not meaning overstating paper wealth throughout bull-market extrapolations or attaching the trade’s greatest names to the darkest attainable compliance narrative.

In the summit interview, he instructed the incentives behind these assaults are “considerably comprehensible,” however mentioned the reporting itself is “utterly utilizing false, baseless data. He added: “There’s no profit. Like, they don’t generate buying and selling charges. There’s no profit. So all this narrative, they’re simply, like, you understand, they latch on to one thing destructive. They simply wish to assault. So there’s plenty of misconceptions on the market.”

Notably, the Iran subject is extra consequential. Zhao was responding to Wall Street Journal reporting that Binance had been tied to an internal investigation involving a $1 billion switch allegedly linked to Iran-backed terror teams. Binance answered with a defamation lawsuit filed on March 11, accusing the Journal and Dow Jones of falsely claiming that the trade ended the probe, didn’t act on the findings and punished compliance workers for elevating considerations.

The controversy didn’t cease with the lawsuit. Senator Richard Blumenthal opened a preliminary inquiry after citing experiences from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Fortune. In a public letter, he mentioned Binance compliance workers had recognized Iranian-linked accounts and alleged transfers totaling $1.7 billion by means of intermediaries, claims Binance disputes.

That historical past additionally explains why the allegations landed with power. Binance and Zhao stay below an unusually intense spotlight after the trade’s 2023 responsible plea and $4.3 billion US settlement over anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures. Zhao stepped down as CEO as a part of that decision and later served a four-month prison sentence.

At press time, Binance Coin (BNB) traded at $643.49.

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