Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal has denied the allegations that the exchange contributed to the Bloomberg story about World Liberty Financial and Binance. In a post on X, Grewal described the allegation as misinformation.
According to him, Coinbase was not a source for the story as the exchange does not attack competitors. Thus, he advised that the search for the actual source should continue.
Grewal said:
“We absolutely did not contribute to this story. We don’t attack competitors, and we welcome any businesses that share our goal of growing the crypto pie.”
Grewal responded to a post by crypto personality Matt Wallace on X, alleging that evidence shows Coinbase was the anonymous source for the story. Wallace explained that Coinbase aimed to prevent Binance from regaining its full strength in the US, which would happen if its founder, Changpeng Zhao, were to get a pardon.
Although he provided no evidence to support the claims, Wallace noted that Binance’s return to the US would affect Coinbase’s market share, as Binance has global reach and lower fees. He described the alleged action as anti-American for targeting the US president.
Interestingly, former Zhao retweeted the post, leading to speculations that he might believe it to be true. Despite Grewal debunking the allegations, the post, which has over one million views on X, remains up.
Zhao criticizes Bloomberg over the story, threatens to sue for defamation
Meanwhile, the story causing the controversy is a Bloomberg publication that claimed that Binance developed the smart contract for the recently launched stablecoin USD1.
USD1 was launched by World Liberty Financial, a crypto project supported by the Trump family.
Bloomberg further claimed that the creation of the stablecoin and its use for the $2 billion investment in Binance UAE sovereign fund are all connected to Zhao’s attempts to get a presidential pardon. USD1 has a circulating supply of $2.20 billion, with Binance holding around $2 billion.
However, Zhao has criticized the Bloomberg story as a hit piece and even suggested that a competitor sponsored it. The crypto billionaire added that he might sue Bloomberg for defamation again, referencing his previous lawsuit against the media house in 2022, which led to the company publishing an apology.
Zhao has never hidden his disdain for Bloomberg and several other mainstream publications, noting that they mostly spread false claims about the crypto industry and himself. The former Binance founder confirmed some weeks ago that he had applied for a presidential pardon, noting that he used the stipulated process and has never met the US President.
