Why did Binance choose Forbes?
Original source: Financial Association
Original source: Financial Association
On February 10, local time in the United States, Forbes announced that it had obtained a strategic investment of 200 million US dollars from Binance.Following the deal, Binance chief communications officer Patrick Hillmann and head of the exchange's venture capital division Bill Chin will join Forbes' board of directors.
at the same time,at the same time,
The reporter of "Blockchain Daily" asked Binance to interview and invest in Forbes based on what considerations and the future layout on the media side. As of press time, there has been no response from the other party.
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The second largest investment in the history of Binance
Forbes said in August 2021 that it had reached an agreement with a special purpose acquisition company called Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited, through which the latter was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock code "FRBS".
The deal at that time valued the combined company at $630 million, with plans to raise $600 million in new investment.
The official transaction overview states that the planned US$600 million includes about US$200 million in cash held in Magnum Opus trust accounts and US$400 million raised through private equity investment (PIPE).
That means Forbes needs to seek the remaining $400 million in investment through a private placement. Binance will invest $200 million in Forbes shares this time, accounting for half of the $400 million."Forbes, has become a resource (access to information and) for those interested in the emerging world of digital assets." said Forbes CEO Mike Federle,
“With the help of (Binance), Forbes can become a leader in this space.”
However, the outside world often doubts the independence of the media in the future when companies in other industries acquire or invest in the media.Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao recently tweeted,
"Forbes' editorial independence is and will always be sacrosanct. The strength of the Forbes brand and our investments depend on this continued independence."
He also added that Binance is used to the "scrutiny" of the media, "when you are a leader in a disruptive industry, this is a necessary reality."
Since 2021, companies in the encryption field have continued to sponsor sports events and venues and invest huge sums of money. Binance’s investment in Forbes this time is also a major attempt in the encryption field to enter the media industry.Wu Tong, a blockchain and digital economist, told the reporter of "Blockchain Daily",
Binance’s main considerations are, first, to improve its brand image after achieving huge wealth accumulation, and realize the transformation from “rich to expensive”.
"Second, it reflects the replacement of the leader of the emerging industry by the king of the previous era, which has a strong symbolic meaning."
In addition, Changpeng Zhao also emphasized the importance of supporting the media in the encryption industry. He said in an interview with the media: "With the advancement of Web3 and blockchain technology and the maturity of the encryption market, we know that the media is the key to building a broad consumer understanding and Education is an important factor. We look forward to supporting Forbes' digital initiatives as they evolve into a new investment insights platform."
Binance’s largest investment to date was the acquisition of CoinMarketCap. In April 2020, Binance announced the acquisition of the cryptocurrency market website CoinMarketCap, and the two parties did not disclose the acquisition amount. But sources said the acquisition cost $400 million.
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Forbes and Binance
Forbes was founded in 1917 by Scottish-American financial journalist Bertie Charles Forbes.
In 2014, in order to accelerate the development of the global business, the Forbes family agreed to sell the business, and Hong Kong Benhui Whale Media Investment Co., Ltd. acquired a majority stake in it.
According to official data, Forbes currently covers 77 countries/regions, with a total of 46 authorized local editions, and has 150 million readers worldwide.
The Forbes rich list has always been known to the world. In addition, more and more entrepreneurs from the encryption field have been included in the global rich list published by it in recent years.
In the Forbes 2021 list of the world's billionaires, Changpeng Zhao ranks 1664th with a net worth of US$1.9 billion.
It’s worth noting that just this week, a former Forbes columnist, Heather Morgan, and her husband were arrested on charges of trying to launder $3.6 billion in bitcoin that hackers stole from the Bitfinex exchange six years ago.
Morgan's status as a contributor has been revoked by Forbes in September 2021.
In addition, Binance sued Forbes for defamation in November 2020. At that time, the latter stated in a report that "Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, conceived an elaborate corporate structure designed to deliberately deceive regulators and secretly obtain funds from cryptocurrency investors in the United States. profit".
In its initial filing with the court, Binance said "this story contains numerous false, misleading and defamatory statements." But the lawsuit was dropped by Binance in February 2021.
Cai Kailong, an expert at the Whale Platform Think Tank and a senior researcher at the Financial Technology Research Institute of Renmin University of China, told the "Blockchain Daily" that investing in Forbes proves that Binance is trying to create better public opinion conditions for itself.Changpeng Zhao was recently named the richest Chinese in the world by the media. Binance Exchange has too many compliance requirements. Therefore, the acquisition of some traditional media with a good reputation like Forbes has a positive effect on Binance.
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The background is that Binance has been subject to strong supervision from all over the world since 2021.
On October 19, 2021, Binance officially announced the completion of the 17th BNB burn, totaling 1,335,888 BNB, or about $638 million. According to Binance’s rule of destroying BNB at 20% of its quarterly profits, the reporter of “Blockchain Daily” calculated that Binance’s profit in the third quarter of 2021 will be approximately US$3.15 billion (approximately RMB 20.16 billion). RMB 12.576 billion) increased by 62%.
However, Binance stated in December 2021 that it will adopt a new BNB "burning" mechanism in the future, which will no longer be linked to the exchange's profits.
The reporter of "Blockchain Daily" sorted out the public information, and the regulatory agencies of various countries and regions in 2021 will warn Binance as follows:
In March 2021, Japan's Financial Services Agency stated that Binance violated the country's "Fund Resolution Act", the user protection mechanism was not perfect, and it was not licensed to provide services to Japanese citizens, and was ordered to delist.
On April 21, 2021, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) issued a statement stating that the "Binance Stock Tokens" provided by Binance violated the country's regulations.
On June 21, 2021, the Japan Financial Services Agency issued a second warning stating that Binance operates without a license.
On June 25, 2021, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning to Binance that it “does not hold a license”;
Two days later, on June 27, Ontario, Canada ordered Binance to stop providing services in the state, and also issued warnings to cryptocurrency exchanges Bybit, KuCoin and Poloniex during the same period.
On July 1, 2021, MAS, the central bank of Singapore, stated that it will "closely monitor" Binance Singapore, a subsidiary of Binance.
On the same day, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) stated that it recommended that “Binance not be allowed to operate in the country.”
On July 6, 2021, the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority (PFSA) warned investors that Binance is not licensed in Poland, and national risk awareness should be strengthened.
On July 16, 2021, the Hong Kong Securities and Exchange Commission pointed out that Binance Group provided unregistered services in the region. Binance was forced to announce that it would immediately stop services, including futures and derivatives trading services;
On July 30, 2021, the Malaysian Securities and Exchange Commission (SC) ordered Binance to suspend its website and APP services in the country.
On August 27, 2021, Binance stopped supporting the Norwegian legal currency "NOK" trading pairs and payment options, and removed the Norwegian website.
In early September 2021, the South African Financial Sector Behavior Monitoring Group stated that Binance was not licensed to provide services in the country.
On December 25, 2021, the Turkish version of Binance was notified by the local Financial Crimes Investigation Committee (MASAK) and was fined 8 million lire for violations found in the audit.
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Exchange "enclosure" blockchain self-media
Cai Kailong told the "Blockchain Daily" reporter that Binance's acquisition of Forbes must have a positive influence on him, but it will definitely not be like everyone imagined that the acquisition of this media will become Binance. Department.He further explained,
"Of course Binance may have some negative news. Forbes can try not to report it, or it can be relatively biased, but it can't be too biased. The independence of the American media is still very important, otherwise its authority will be affected."
In fact, the three major exchanges of Binance, Huobi and OK have invested a lot of blockchain self-media in recent years.
In 2019, Mars Finance announced the completion of a new round of financing. This round of financing was jointly invested by institutions such as Binance, Ceyuan Capital, and Matrixport, which was just founded by Jihan Wu, with a post-investment valuation of US$200 million.
Mars Finance Mars Finance was founded by Wang Feng, the founder of Linekong Interactive. Investing in Mars Finance is Binance’s first strategic investment in mainland China. Changpeng Zhao once said that information is playing an increasingly important role in the mining, flow and trading of encrypted digital assets.Previously, Mars Finance completed the A round and A+ round of financing in March and May 2018. Investors include IDG Capital, Ceyuan Capital, OK Capital, Huobi Global Ecological Fund and other investments.
It can be said that Mars Finance is a blockchain self-media that gathers the three major exchanges of Binance, Huobi and OK.
Compared with Mars Finance, which continues to operate, some self-media invested by Huobi and OK Capital have stopped operating.
In June 2018, OK Capital led the investment in Bizhihui, the "big circle flush", but the company Guangzhou Chuxing Technology Co., Ltd. applied for cancellation in September 2021.
Shallot App is a blockchain media incubated internally by Wall Street. It has received investments from Huobi Capital, Tongzhou Capital, Huihui Fund, OK Capital, and Silicon Valley Ding Innovation Fund. It was also disbanded in April 2020 due to cash flow problems.
Coin World was established in August 2017. Its flagship product is newsletter, and the company's slogan is "One step ahead, know about the currency circle". However, it was announced in July 2021 that it would cease operations. In September 2017, Coin World received a seed round investment of several million RMB, and the investor was Huobi Capital.
Another big self-media media in the currency circle, Jinse Finance, was also founded by Du Jun, the co-founder of Huobi, and received investment from Huobi.
The exchange’s investment in blockchain self-media operations can easily be reminiscent of Ali’s “exploitation” of the media territory many years ago. Alibaba Group and Jack Ma have personally acquired or invested in media through direct and indirect means, including traditional media, new media, and entertainment and film platforms.
Asked whether investing in Forbes is also entering the media industry when the business is expanding like Ali, Wu Tong said that the logic of the two is not the same.
