Justin Sun complaint leads to CoinDesk removing banana article

An article on Justin Sun’s “ridiculous” banana-buying stunt published by CoinDesk was taken down by the crypto news outlet after Sun complained about the tone of the piece. 

Fortune reports that an objection from Sun’s team prompted an intervention from CoinDesk’s owner, crypto exchange Bullish. 

Bullish removed the December 2 opinion article titled “I Watched Justin Sun Eat the World’s Most Expensive Banana. I Don’t Get It.” A number of CoinDesk journalists subsequently attempted to get it reuploaded — while highlighting the need for editorial independence — at a meeting with Bullish CEO Tom Farley and CoinDesk CEO Sara Stratoberdha.

While the article is viewable on Yahoo, it’s currently not on the CoinDesk website. 

Coinbase takes aim at Justin Sun in WBTC lawsuit response

Read more: Justin Sun directed wash trading scheme from his US apartment, SEC claims

It was written by Callan Quinn and details his experience watching Sun eat the $6.2 million art piece. To recap, eating the banana doesn’t diminish the piece in any way. Quinn called the event “ridiculous,” and said that he couldn’t comprehend the artistic merit behind the art piece itself. 

What may have rubbed Sun the wrong way was the inclusion of last year’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charge that accused him of secondary market wash trading, fraud, and other securities law violations. Sun is fighting this case. 

In addition, Quinn touched on Sun threatening legal action against news outlets that are reporting on the use of his Tron blockchain by terrorists. Reuters reported that Tron is popular with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, and that Israel’s counter-terrorist agencies have frozen 186 Tron wallets since July 2021. 

CoinDesk editor resigned this week

Bullish bought CoinDesk last year for over $70 million and said it would operate CoinDesk as an “independent subsidiary.” It appointed the executive editor of the Washington Post, Matt Murray, as the chair of CoinDesk’s editorial committee.

However, Fortune reports that Murray resigned on Monday. He declined Fortune’s request for comment. 

The crypto exchange has a 24-hour volume of $2.5 billion and the 94 spot on CoinGecko’s top crypto exchange list. Tron was also a sponsor of CoinDesk’s Consensus event and was picked as one of CoinDesk’s most influential figures in crypto. 

For the record, Protos also thinks that Sun’s banana stunt was ridiculous and that he’s basically paid $6 million to have to replace a piece of fruit every seven to 10 days. Our newsroom is, however, completely independent, so we’ll be keeping our Sun articles up for the rest of time.

Protos has reached out to Bullish, CoinDesk, Matt Murray, and Callan Quinn for comment.  

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 cryptos below $0.2 to outperform Polygon (MATIC) in 2024

Image
Welcome to the world of cryptocurrency, where trends shift rapidly and opportunities abound. In this dynamic landscape, investors are constantly seeking the next big thing. Today, we explore three cryptocurrencies priced below $0.2 that have the potential to outshine even established players like Polygon (MATIC) in 2024. From the meme-fueled momentum of Shiba Inu (SHIB) to the innovative strides of Retik Finance (RETIK) and Stellar's (XLM) promising developments, these gems offer enticing prospects for growth. Let's delve into their potential and what sets them apart. Overview of Polygon (MATIC) and Its Performance Polygon, formerly known as Matic Network, has emerged as a leading layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, aiming to address the network's scalability issues. With its innovative technology, Polygon provides faster and cheaper transactions, making it an attractive choice for decentralised applications (dApps) and developers. In 2023, Polygon experienced sign...
Read more

Horizen Labs, Offchain Labs, and Arbitrum Foundation Develop Apechain

Horizen Labs, Offchain Labs, and the Arbitrum Foundation have initiated the development of a dedicated blockchain, Apechain. Apechain will utilize APE as its utility and gas tokens, fostering the expansion of the token’s reach. The platforms shared their enthusiasm for the new development while the community accepted the proposal. In a bid to expand the utility and reach of APE coin, Horizen Labs, Offchain Labs, and the Arbitrum Foundation have initiated the development of a dedicated blockchain, Apechain. In a recent revelation, the blockchain platform, Offchain Labs, unearthed the community’s acceptance of the Apechain development proposal, indicated by a more than 50% support rate. Congratulations to @apecoin DAO on its decision to develop ApeChain utilizing the Arbitrum tech stack! With $APE serving as both the gas and governance token for ApeChain, Arbitrum Orbit's customizability empowers @ApeCoin DAO with true ownership and control over this… ...
Read more

First Republic: U.S. Government Coordinates "Urgent Rescue Talks" to Rescue Bank

Image
U.S. officials are reportedly leading urgent talks to rescue First Republic Bank . This comes at a time when private-sector efforts ushered by the bank’s advisers are yet to pocket a finalized deal. Citing three unnamed sources familiar with the matter, a recent Reuters report revealed,   “The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Treasury Department, and the Federal Reserve are among government bodies that have in recent days started to orchestrate meetings with financial companies about putting together a lifeline for the troubled lender.” JUST IN: US Government coordinating urgent meetings to rescue First Republic Bank $ FRC . — Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 28, 2023 Also Read: Crypto x Stocks: Is Un-Correlation in Play? At this stage, it is still not clear if the U.S. government is looking to take part in a private-sector rescue of First Republic. Nevertheless, one of the sources reportedly revealed that the government’s engagement has “emboldene...
Read more