The cryptocurrency exchange Binance has found itself at the center of a scandal following allegations of imposing financial demands on new projects seeking listing. The CEO of the startup Limitless Labs, C.J. Hetherington, published details of an alleged official proposal from Binance, which included demands for a share of the airdrop, deposits, and additional financial obligations.
This is reported by Business • Media
Details of the Allegations and Community Reaction
According to Hetherington, the listing proposal required the transfer of about 8% of tokens in the form of airdrops, a deposit of $250,000, as well as reserving funds for marketing purposes and the BNB HODLer program. He compared these conditions to those of Binance’s competitor, Coinbase, which, he claimed, only required a significant product to be present in the Base ecosystem.
Limitless Labs received support from well-known players such as Coinbase Ventures and the Base Ecosystem Fund. In July 2025, after another round of investment, the total funding for the project reached $7 million.
Hetherington’s allegations were supported by other representatives of the cryptocurrency industry. The founder of 6MV, Mike Dudas, confirmed that Binance had previously made similar demands to other teams and noted that he had not signed an NDA, allowing him to speak openly about these facts.
“I can confirm that over the last month, I have seen Binance TGE making proposals EXACTLY of the same nature as CJ’s, on an unlimited basis, and I have not signed any NDA, so I cannot be legally forced to speak about this. Binance has been operating under the same scenario for many years.”
C.J. Hetherington declined to provide further comments on the situation.
Binance’s Position and Company Representatives’ Reactions
In response to the allegations, Binance stated that the information disclosed is defamatory and threatened possible legal action. Later, the exchange’s official publication was removed, but its content remained accessible in the form of screenshots. In its statement, Binance insisted that it does not profit from listings, and that the deposit is set to protect users, while the allocated tokens are used for rewards and marketing activities. The company also claimed that Hetherington disclosed confidential information, which could have legal consequences.
Binance explained the removal of its previous statement as follows:
“The community may have noticed that we deleted our previous post in Binance CS in response to the discussion about our listing process. While we stand by our position, our manner of communication was excessive, and we sincerely apologize to our users, partners, and the entire industry as a whole.”
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, commenting on the situation, urged developers to focus on product quality, noting that exchanges are themselves interested in listing projects with real value. Yi He, co-founder of Binance, emphasized the transparency of the company’s financial reporting and explained that marketing expenses are distributed among several areas, and the deposit is refundable.
She also highlighted that participation in Binance Alpha is only open to projects with reliable infrastructure:
“If you have a reliable project, the right approach to Alpha is not an aggressive pursuit of token listings. You will find that this is actually the optimal way to attract early users and launch new products to the market. While thousands of projects apply for Alpha, ultimately, those with fundamentally reliable product infrastructure are selected.”
The editorial team reached out for comments from Binance representatives and will update the material upon receiving a response. It is known that previously, Changpeng Zhao had already criticized the token listing process on Binance.