Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, said in a post on X that chat screenshots and a so-called “legal letter” circulating on social media were fabricated. He said the direct-message screenshots shared by certain accounts were fake, adding that he had never had that kind of private conversation with the person involved and did not know the account at all. He also said the account had already been blocked.
The post was published on February 5. CZ described the circulating material as “FUD,” short for fear, uncertainty and doubt. He added that some of the accounts spreading the content appeared to have more than 500,000 followers. He said he would try to spend less time addressing these claims one by one because he had more important things to handle.
CZ also rejects a widely shared “legal letter”
In the same post, CZ referred to another item that had been making the rounds online: a “legal letter” that was heavily reposted across social platforms. He said that document was fake as well. At first, he believed the material was so obviously false that it did not require a public response, but after seeing some media reports embed the image directly, he decided to comment on it publicly.
According to CZ, some people still fail to distinguish heavily edited images or even AI-generated misinformation from authentic material. That point became part of his warning. He said that in an environment like this, people without basic judgment on information quality could end up taking losses in the market.
The post sparked debate over source verification
CZ’s statement drew support from other X users. Some argued that during weak market periods, different forms of FUD tend to spread more easily, and many posts are simply attempts to amplify inconsistencies during price declines. Others said genuinely problematic conduct should still be scrutinized, but obviously fabricated content and engagement-driven accounts should receive less attention from market participants.
The broader message in CZ’s post was not limited to denying a single screenshot or a single document. It pointed to a larger problem around source verification. When fake chat records and fake legal documents can be assembled quickly and distributed at scale, statements from any single platform or public figure should not become the sole basis for changing trading positions in haste.