Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance, has sent out a serious warning to his 8.9 million followers. This is the second time since CZ was recently released from prison that he has warned about scammers trying to exploit his identity to defraud cryptocurrency users.
CZ discovered "his" verified fake "account" on X
Zhao posted a warning, urging the community to be wary of âfake CZ accounts out there.â The former Binance CEO claimed that he only uses the username @cz_binance, while all other X usernames starting with âczâ are fake, even if marked with a blue check mark, meaning they are verified. CZ named two specific accounts that users should avoid.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and turned it into X, verification checks of various colors (depending on whether it was an individual or an organization) could be purchased and maintained for a monthly fee.
Many high-profile celebrities were outraged by the move, including legendary horror writer Stephen King. Musk agreed to pay for Kingâs blue check out of his own pocket, according to his tweet. King has since continued to push back against Musk, claiming that Twitter was a much better place before the Tesla chief bought it for $44 billion.
This was a strategy Musk deployed to make his new acquisition less dependent on advertisers, who then declared war on Musk by boycotting X and removing their advertising from it.
In response, Musk publicly told them where to go last year, notably when it came to the Disney CEO. The conflict between Musk and the advertising giants stems from the Tesla CEOâs efforts to counter what he calls the âwoke virusâ theyâre imposing on Western society.
Earlier this month, CZ issued a warning to the X cryptocurrency community, stating that other social media platforms besides X were broadcasting his deepfake videos, promoting cryptocurrencies he had never heard of.
CZ's first statement after being released from prison
When CZ was released from prison in late September, he tweeted that having âa piece of fruit a dayâ was a âluxuryâ at the time. The influencer said he wanted to ârelax a bitâ before figuring out his next steps. âThere are always more opportunities in the future than the past,â he tweeted.
