On 21st November, The Block published an article claiming that Binance’s Shanghai shutting down its Shanghai office following a police raid. The publisher did not reveal its source in the article. Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao aka CZ, however, dismissed the news as an attempt to create FUD. Many other crypto personalities and users also called out the FUD and criticised The Block for misreporting. 

The Block’s article states that Binance’s Shanghai office was raided by the police, where Binance executives and nearly a 100 employees worked. The Block reached out to Binance for a comment but a Binance spokesperson told them that the company does not have “a fixed office in Shanghai”.

“We don’t have entities in China, most of us work remotely in China,” said the spokesperson.

However, the article seemed to look at the legitimacy of the Binance spokesperson’s response questioningly. It said –

Binance’s denial of the mere existence of a Chinese office comes despite The Block having seen photographs of the office as part of conversations with Binance representatives about the location in question.

The article further went on to talk about Binance’s unclear plans about an office in Beijing. The article says that Binance was planning on opening an office in Beijing “in addition to its Shanghai location”. But, the plans for the new office have apparently been scrapped according to the article.

The article has visibly upset not just the Binance CEO but the crypto community as well, and they have criticised the publisher for publishing false information.

Soon after the article was published, CZ took to Twitter and posted that the there was no raid by the police and the article was simply creating FUD.

No police, no raid, no office. Hope you didn’t pay to read that FUD block. pic.twitter.com/W2msvY2hSA

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 22, 2019

Retweeting a post by crypto influencer Dovey Wan, CZ also said that a couple of exchanges which were still operating out of China were paying news outlets and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to spread FUD around Binance. The exchanges mentioned in Wan’s tweet were KuCoin, Ok, Gate and Huobi.

Interestingly, I know for a fact two of these four exchanges that actually have offices in China is paying news outlets and KOLs to spread FUD about Binance. And not thinking through if China is to shut down any offices, it would be themselves. https://t.co/4pjlljyNR5

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 22, 2019

He also shared a screenshot of a conversation he had had a few days ago wherein he told someone that he knows of exchanges in China which have 7+ and 12+ people teams deployed for writing negative content about Binance.

pic.twitter.com/oU6Pcry63k

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) November 22, 2019

He even posted a message for cryptoprenuers that when they raised funds for their project, they should allocate some towards fighting FUD.

Many crypto personalities and users also came together to support Binance. Crypto advocate Brad Laurie questioned the soundness of The Block’s sources –

Confused by Celia Wan's title in @TheBlock__ article:

"Binance's Shanghai office shut down following police raid, sources say"

Why? 'cause sound journalism MUST be SURE of the SOURCE & stating 'sources say' is odd.

+ it costs $18/mo just to read it!@NuggetsNewsAU responds pic.twitter.com/QFecXP1kNy

— Brad Laurie (@Brad_Laurie) November 21, 2019

Crypto influencer Tommy Mustache said that The Block is not to be trusted and compared it to Craig Wright claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto.

This crypto news outlet The Block should not be trusted. They are as trustworthy as Craig Wright claiming to be Satoshi.

Making up stories and then claiming they have "sources" to confirm it. CZ had just stated that Binance does not have an office in Shanghai.@TheBlock__ https://t.co/BDyYext38V

— Tommy Mustache (@MustacheTommy) November 22, 2019

From calling the article click bait to comparing The Block to a tabloid, several members of the crypto community also came to show their support for Binance.

Office or no office, the crypto market crash coincides with the birth of the Binance FUD. Bitcoin has crashed over 10% to $7,000-level and Ethereum is down 14% at $145. The rest of the top 10 coins have also seen significant losses. It is likely that the crypto holders have started panic selling. Crypto analyst Ran NeuNer posted on Twitter regarding the plunge in the crypto market and his tweet got a flurry of different responses from the community.

Pardon my ignorance, but why does a police raid on Binance’s Shanghai office (If it actually happened) actually affect the price of Bitcoin?

— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) November 22, 2019

According to a Twitter user, the entire situation is a “game” that the whale are playing.

Another user feels that the crash can be attributed to uncertainty caused by the event among people.

Now, it remains to be seen when the FUD is dispelled and the crypto market begins to make a recovery.