Binance targets fraudulent agents, promises up to $5M to whistleblowers

In an official communication, Binance warned its users and project leaders against fraudulent agents claiming to facilitate the registration of tokens on Binance, often in exchange for payments. To accompany this message, the exchange announced a reward of up to $5 million for credible information identifying these practices.

A strict reminder of the listing rules on Binance

For Binance, projects wishing to be listed must go through the official channels of the platform. As a result, there is no authorized intermediary, no external agent, or third party representative authorized to offer or accelerate a quote.

This is how Binance published an official communication warning its community against fraudulent agents. Indeed, the latter claim to intervene in the process of listing tokens on its platform.

Binance emphasizes that requests must be submitted directly via the forms provided for this purpose. And this, whether it is a quote on the spot market, futures contracts or specific programs like Alpha Featuring. Any external solicitation requesting a fee, commission or remuneration on behalf of Binance is therefore, by definition, suspicious.

This recall aims to put an end to persistent confusion in the industry, where certain players exploit the apparent complexity of listing processes to give themselves artificial credibility.

Fake agents identified, but a broader phenomenon

In his statementBinance explains that it has identified several individuals and entities presenting themselves as Binance listing agents. These actors claimed to be able to intervene in the listing process in exchange for payment. This is sometimes done under the guise of advisory, incubation or investment research services.

Among the names cited are Central Research, which publicly presents itself as a financial analysis organization. Also the crypto incubator BitABC is part of it, as well as some people active on social networks. The latter in fact claim to be former professionals of traditional markets or providers of liquidity in altcoins.

Binance specifies, however, that this blacklist is partial. It does not reflect all the actors involved in this type of practice. Moreover, it is only an overview of a larger problem, which goes beyond a few isolated profiles.

To combat these abuses, Binance has chosen an offensive approach. The platform offers a bounty of up to $5 million to whistleblowers who can provide valid information about fraudulent brokers posing as Binance representatives.

They will have to transmit the reports via the official channel [email protected]. Binance specifies that the information received may lead to firm measures. These include legal proceedings against those identified.

This initiative aims as much to deter fraudsters as to encourage transparency within the community. It comes in a context where the listing process of centralized exchanges is regularly criticized for its lack of readability, including by the founder of Binance himself, who had recognized certain flaws in the system in the past.