Coinbase Accused in Binance Smear Campaign: Fact or Fiction?

Rumors swirl as Coinbase finds itself embroiled in allegations of orchestrating a smear campaign against rival exchange Binance. But how much truth lies beneath the surface?

Industry insiders whisper about coordinated FUD tactics—classic crypto theater. Meanwhile, traders shrug and keep stacking sats, because when has drama ever stopped a bull market?

One thing's certain: in the Wild West of digital assets, today's villain could be tomorrow's liquidity partner. Just follow the transaction fees.

The digital currency ecosystem is heating up with new claims on the rivalry between Binance Exchange and Coinbase Global Inc.

As two of the biggest digital currencies in the world, the quest for survival is triggering new lobbying moves.

Earlier this week, Binance Founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao called out Bloomberg media for a defamatory publication targeted at him and the exchange. More details have emerged, allegedly tying Coinbase to the Binance woes.

Origin of Binance Woes In the United States

Binance Exchange was launched in 2018, about 6 years after Coinbase made its emergence. However, the former has seen a more meteoric rise in its growth trend over the past 7 years.

This growth comes at a significant legal cost, with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ).

While the SEC accused the firm of operating without proper authorization for some of its services, the DoJ fined the firm for some banking violations.

At the time, Binance exchange paid over $4.2 billion in settlement to the DoJ, FinCEN, and the CFTC. CZ was sent to jail, and he resigned his role as CEO, never to return.

It remains challenging to claim that the exchange’s struggles are unique. Other firms have also faced reprisals from regulators over the past few years.

What is, however, controversial is the alleged smear media campaigns against Binance, a trend that is much more prevalent for the exchange than its peers.

The claims always differ, and media giants like Bloomberg and Reuters are often flagged for frontrunning these assertions.

On one occasion, as reported earlier by The CoinRepublic, Bloomberg had to publish an apology for a write-up about CZ.

The Matt Wallace Claim

In line with the broad trend of smear campaigns, industry personality Matt Wallace has come out with bold claims that Coinbase is sponsoring the hit jobs against Binance.

Taking to his social media page on X, he said, ‘evidence is emerging that COINBASE was the “anonymous” source behind the hit job on President Trump’s World Liberty Financial and Binance.’

Recall that news once broke that a Binance and World Liberty Financial (WLFI) deal is aimed at granting CZ a Presidential appeal. This marked the end goal for the Binance founder.

Per the claims from Matt Wallace, this is coming off as a major threat to the Coinbase exchange. This is because Binance has claimed superior customer service offerings and lower trading fees.

The higher-ups at Coinbase are allegedly concerned that should Binance return to the US following a cleared legal strain, it might impact their market share.

The callout of Bloomberg per ties to President Trump and Binance is gaining intense steam in the crypto space.

While some believe this is a political attack, many Coinbase loyalists believe the claims are false. Whether or not this supposed unreleased evidence is showcased remains to be seen in the next few months.

Exchange Competition Heating Up

There are different avenues to showcase leadership among crypto trading platforms in the industry. The dominance of Binance cannot be disputed, but other firms are pushing for more relevance with new business moves.

Kraken Exchange, for instance, has expanded its reach in the finance world with the acquisition of NinjaTrader.

This acquisition, valued at over $1.5 billion, is one of the high-profile M&A deals inked thus far this year. To complement this move, the exchange also launched Ink, a LAYER two scaling solution.

Coinbase is not lagging with the acquisition of Deribit and the team behind the Opyn exchange.

With these new portfolio firms, the platforms are looking to expand their business offerings and fight for more market share.