On July 17, Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese issued a statement on its official website, apologizing to CZ and Binance, the organization he founded, for the cover headline "CZ's Ponzi Scheme" that was mistakenly published in its 250th issue (July 6, 2022). Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese stated in the statement that the cover headline was a false and unfounded accusation that caused harm and distress to CZ and Binance. In response, Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese unreservedly withdraws the content and apologizes, promising not to publish or make any identical or similar accusations in any way in the future.
By agreement between the two parties, Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese Edition will donate a sum of money in lieu of damages to the Special Education School Foundation.
Binance responded by saying: “We are pleased to see that the false accusations have been withdrawn. We will continue to focus on providing the best service and innovation for our users, while also continuing to set an example to ensure the health and sustainable development of the industry.”
In addition, Binance has also won phased victories in other events. On June 29, in a ruling by a U.S. federal court, the judge rejected several key claims of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ruling that the SEC failed to allege facts that showed that the cryptocurrency exchange's sale of BNB tokens on the secondary market was a securities transaction. At the same time, the court also rejected the SEC's argument that Binance's fiat-backed stablecoin BUSD was an investment contract.
This ruling is not only a legal victory for Binance, it also recognizes that there are significant limits to the SEC’s regulatory authority over the cryptocurrency industry. The court rightly criticized the SEC’s decision to litigate a multi-billion dollar industry through a “case-by-case, coin-by-coin, forum-by-forum” approach, which has created inconsistent outcomes and ambiguity.
Prior to this, following Binance’s settlement with US regulators at the end of 2023, on April 30, Binance founder and former CEO CZ officially accepted the verdict in the US Seattle Federal Court and was sentenced to 4 months in prison. The sentence result was better than market expectations, and the relevant historical issues were resolved, further consolidating Binance’s leadership in the global crypto market.
In early June, Binance announced that its global users had exceeded 200 million. Binance CEO Richard Teng posted on social media: "The number of registered users on the Binance platform has exceeded 200 million worldwide, and this number is still growing. This achievement is a reflection of the continued trust of the crypto community and industry participants in the Binance ecosystem. Binance will cherish this trust - as a user-centric platform, Binance is always committed to prioritizing the needs of its growing user base."
