Coinbase Chief Authorized Officer Paul Grewal has firmly denied any connection between the trade and a current Bloomberg report that claims Binance performed a key function in launching World Liberty Monetary (WLFI), a crypto mission linked to President Donald Trump.
The report, revealed on July 11, cited nameless sources who alleged that Binance helped develop the sensible contract for WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin and promoted the token in a $2 billion transaction.
Since its publication, hypothesis has unfold throughout social media, accusing Coinbase of being the nameless supply behind the story.
In a July 13 publish on X, Grewal rejected the assertions, saying:
“We completely didn’t contribute to this story. We don’t assault rivals.”
He said that the corporate focuses on increasing the broader crypto ecosystem and welcomes the presence of others who share that imaginative and prescient.
Social media speculations
Grewal’s assertion was in response to crypto influencer Matt Wallace’s controversial hypothesis on X.
Wallace had claimed Coinbase might have supported the Bloomberg report out of worry {that a} potential US pardon for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao may open the door for Binance’s return to the American market.
He argued that such a comeback would possibly threaten Coinbase’s dominant place, particularly given its larger buying and selling charges and ongoing criticism round customer support.
One other fashionable crypto influencer, Ian Miles Cheong, additionally alleged that Coinbase could possibly be behind the hit. The influencer wrote on X:
“I’d guess {that a} competitor like Coinbase is behind this. Larger charges, worse platform. They’re attempting to take down Binance, they usually’re utilizing the Trump angle to do it.
Though Zhao has not named Coinbase straight, he retweeted a number of posts suggesting {that a} competitor was behind the Bloomberg article and labeled the report as “FUD.”
Zhao mentioned:
“Bloomberg simply wrote one other hit piece (sponsored by a competitor) containing so many factual errors I don’t even know the place to start. May need to sue them once more for defamation.”
Notably, Zhao has a hostile relationship with the normal media home and has persistently criticized the outlet for the standard of their reporting through the years.
Nonetheless, the present controversy comes at a time of heightened scrutiny within the crypto trade, as political affiliations and regulatory outcomes more and more form market narratives.
Whereas Coinbase and Binance proceed to compete for market share, each are navigating a fancy panorama formed by enforcement motion, coverage debates, and shifting sentiment.
