China state media covers SEC’s lawsuit against Binance, CEO Changpeng Zhao

China Central Television (CCTV), the largest national TV broadcaster in the country, ran about a minute-long segment on Tuesday flagging the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) against crypto exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao, who got his start in China. The report also got headline play on Chinese news websites and social media.

See related article: Binance, US platform, CEO face SEC lawsuit over alleged securities violations

Fast facts

• The 70-second clip, citing Reuters as the source, summarized the SEC’s charges against Binance and Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao, the lawsuit’s impact on cryptocurrencies, as well as the mounting regulatory challenges faced by the world’s largest crypto exchange.
• The report by CCTV was tweeted by Zhao and the Chinese Twitter account of Binance, which said Binance has become “the world’s largest crypto exchange certified by China’s Central Television.”
• The lawsuit was also covered on the websites of Chinese news media including Securities Times, Caixin, the Paper and Jiemian. Securities Times is a state-owned outlet controlled by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.
• The case also hits headlines on Chinese social media, though searches on “Binance” itself receive no results on WeChat, the country’s leading social media. However, headlines containing “cryptocurrency” or “Changpeng Zhao,” the Chinese-born Canadian founder of Binance, are not blocked on the platform. 
• China issued a blanket ban on all cryptocurrency trading in September 2021, with search engines and social media censoring items on crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKEX and Huobi. 
• However, there are signs China’s news agencies and social media are relaxing some restrictions. WeChat has launched a function for users to track and calculate the exchange rate between Bitcoin and the Chinese yuan, according to Chinese blockchain news provider ChainCatcher on June 1.

See related article: Hong Kong’s new crypto rules covered by China state TV in rare move from Beijing