What Twitter Meme Wars Say About Crypto's Reliance on Figureheads

Gareth Li, head of business development and partnerships at Binance, had the crypto exchange's angular diamond etched on his arm to match founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao's ink.

Meme wars spawned last month over media coverage of Binance's operations in China offered a salient example of celebrity token politics.

In July the news of TRX creator Justin Sun's thwarted Warren Buffett lunch also influenced market activity, Koeppen said.

Sun, who is now also a Poloniex investor, tweeted that he would personally donate 100 bitcoin to Zhao's "FUD fighting fund."

Beyond the anti-FUD fund, Sun also announced that he was sending $1,000 worth of USDT to a self-taught trader now living in Silicon Valley, known on Twitter as "Tommy Moustache," to help him make derogatory memes shaming The Block's staff for failing to apologize for its sensationalist article.

Compare the latest Binance examples to when Sun tweeted in October that an upcoming partnership would expose TRX to "Billions of customers." The reality was made clear later that week: A small technical update meant Samsung devices could be used more easily by Tron developers.

In neither case, Zhao's denial nor Sun's hyped-up speech, did token fans demand apologies or retractions for unclear or misleading statements that might protect or bolster the respective token's reputation.

Stepping back, Sun may have gotten involved with the latest anti-FUD meme war because it could impact his businesses as well.

One Chinese bitcoiner and crypto investor, who asked to stay anonymous to protect business relationships with the parties involved, said Zhao and Sun work closely together and such relationships "Impact how liquidity will flow."

Plus, Sun tweeted in October that he owns a "Huge bag" of BNB tokens, along with the native tokens of other Chinese exchanges that "Support" the TRX project.