Radhika Parashar
- Zhao was referring to a television interview on CNBC with officials from WLF and ALT5 Sigma
- CNBC showed Tron founder Justin Sun’s image instead of Zhao’s
- Sun is yet to respond to the development
Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has pointed out that news channels do not always have adequate information on the crypto community. On Wednesday, August 13, the co-founder of Binance emerged as a topic of discussion on CNBC. In an unfortunate twist of events, however, the channel ended up making a significant blunder that drew Zhao’s attention immediately.
CNBC’s “Squawk Box” co-anchor, Joe Kernen, hosted officials from Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLF) and ALT5 Sigma after the two announced a collaboration this week. The television discussion that was hosted on August 13, saw a brief mention on Zhao.
Shockingly, however, when Zhao was being addressed, a picture of Tron founder Justin Sun was being flashed on the screen instead of Zhao’s.
Newsletter
Get weekly updates on the newest crypto stories, case studies and tips right in your mailbox.
Sharing the link of the video, CZ pointed out at CNBC’s “lack of crypto knowledge”.
Towards the last phase of the interview, Kernen asked WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff if CZ should get a pardon — referring to him having pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge in 2023. After spending four months in prison, Zhao was released September 2024. However, by then he was replaced by Richard Teng as the CEO of Binance. In May this year, the crypto mogul submitted an application of pardon to U.S. President Donald Trump giving the case a new angle.
Replying to Kernen’s question, Witkoff said, “We’re not in the pardon business. You know, we’ve said it several times. We are not a political organization. We are a business. You know, he’s obviously, you know, a guy that’s built an incredible business. You know, I’ll also add that he’s quite charitable. He spends his life now, you know, on education and fixing the broken education system, someone we have a lot of respect for.”
Tron’s chief Justin Sun, however, has not yet reacted to his image being wrongly used for Zhao by a leading news channel.
