Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao used an appearance at the 2026 Blockchain conference to push back sharply against what he described as a new wave of misinformation, arguing that recent reports about his wealth and alleged links to illicit funds linked to Iran are based on false premises and recycled crypto hostility.
In an interview, Zhao said that the issue is not just serious newspapers, but he sees it as a pattern of stories built on unsubstantiated claims. “Some of the things that the media said about me today have been closed,” he said. “Forbes is trying to paint me rich, rich in the last six months, which is not possible. I don’t know how they did that number.”
He then turned to a more serious charge: “The Wall Street Journal is saying that somehow I’m trying to finance terrorists in Iran. I have no interest in doing that. I live in a country that’s being attacked by Iran, right? And even before that, I didn’t care about that.
JUST IN: BILLIONAIRE CZ JUST HIT A BIG LEGAL WAY FOR PUSHING FOOD CONTROVERSIAL #BITCOINCRYPTO, AND BINANCE
“THEY USE FALSE AND BASELESS INFORMATION”
“THEY SAY WE ARE TRYING TO CAUSE TERRORISM”
“THE TRUTH WILL OUT.” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TDGjcAfX7o
– Bitcoin Historian (@pete_rizzo_) March 18, 2026
Why Binance’s CZ Is Blasting the FUD Media
Those comments came days after Forbes published its 2026 billionaire ranking that estimated Zhao’s fortune at $110 billion, enough to put him ahead of Bill Gates and marking an increase of nearly $47 billion from the previous year. Zhao has publicly disputed the figure, saying the numbers were absurd in a year when crypto prices have already fallen sharply from their highs.
In a post on X, he wrote: “Crypto prices have fallen by more than 50% in 2026 already. And my value
For Zhao, that ratio seems to be symptomatic of a broader complaint: that mainstream stores still choose to go to extremes when aggregating crypto analytics, whether that means overstating the paper’s wealth during a bull market boom or attaching the industry’s biggest names to a dark compliance issue.
In a conference call, he suggested that the motivations for the attack were “somewhat understandable,” but said the reporting itself was “totally using false, baseless information.” He added: “There’s no profit. Like, they don’t make trading money. There’s no profit. So all these narratives, it’s just like, you know, they’re stuck on something that’s not good. They just want to attack. So there’s a lot of misconceptions out there.”
Significantly, the issue of Iran is very important. Zhao was responding to the Wall Street Journal reporting that Binance was tied up in an internal investigation involving the transfer of $1 billion allegedly linked to Iran-backed terrorist groups. Binance responded with a defamation lawsuit filed on March 11, accusing the Journal and Dow Jones of falsely claiming the exchange had completed an investigation, failing to act on the findings and punishing compliance staff for raising concerns.
The dispute did not end with a lawsuit. Senator Richard Blumenthal opened the first investigation after citing reports from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Fortune. In a public letter, he said Binance’s compliance staff identified Iranian-linked accounts and suspected transfers of up to $1.7 billion through intermediaries, Binance claims.
That history also explains why the allegations came so strongly. Binance and Zhao remain under unusual scrutiny after they pleaded guilty to the exchange in 2023 and US $ 4.3 billion in payments for failure to fight money laundering and failure of sanctions. Zhao stepped down as CEO as part of that decision and later served a four-month prison sentence.
At press time, Binance Coin (BNB) traded at $643.49.
The featured image was created with DALL.E, a chart from TradingView.com
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