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Binance has launched a whistleblower reward of up to $5 million as part of a broad campaign to combat fraudulent third-party “listing agents.”
The platform warns cryptocurrency projects that any individual who claims to influence the listings on the platform is acting illegally.
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Binance is offering a $5 million reward to whistleblowers as it cracks down on fake listing agents.
The announcement, published on Wednesday in a transparency update, came at a sensitive time for the world’s largest crypto platform.
Binance is facing increased scrutiny over its listing practices after alleged insider trading incidents related to the leak of token information.
Binance emphasized in its notice that all token listing requests must be submitted exclusively through its official channels, which include Binance Alpha, Futures and Spot Markets.
The platform stressed that it does not authorize brokers, advisors or third-party intermediaries to negotiate, facilitate or guarantee listings.
The company said that any entity claiming to represent Binance or to provide listing services in exchange for a fee is engaging in fraudulent conduct.
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Blacklisting and internal audit findings
The exchange revealed that an internal audit revealed repeated cases of people and companies misrepresenting themselves as intermediaries linked to Binance while demanding fees from the project’s founders.
As a result, the platform has blacklisted seven entities and individuals, including:
- BetABC
- Central Research
- May/Danny
- Andrew Lee
- Suki Yang
- Fiona Lee, and
- He was grinning
According to Binance, these parties were identified for falsely implying links with the exchange or providing paid listing services, and the company said that legal action would be taken “where appropriate”.
Blockchain data provider Rootdata revealed that one of the blacklisted groups, Central Research, had previously supported several cryptocurrency projects, including Fireverse, Nebula Revelation, AKI Network, Fusionist and Artifact.
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Of these projects, only Fugenest (ACE) is currently trading on Binance. The trading platform did not link the results of the blacklist to previous listing decisions.
Binance encouraged the report, saying that whistleblowers who provide verifiable evidence of fraudulent activity could receive rewards of up to $5 million, depending on the quality and impact of the information provided.
Binance tightens listing rules amid fallout from insider trading
As part of the update, Binance has published a detailed breakdown of how projects progress through their listing system, from initial appearance in Binance Alpha to futures and eventual listing on the spot market.
The marketing platform has confirmed that it does not charge a fee for listing requests and that all communications should originate directly from the project’s core team.
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Binance warned that projects found to have used brokers or third parties will be immediately excluded from current and future listing reviews, but teams that proactively report fraudulent proxies may receive priority consideration.
The announcement follows Binance’s confirmation earlier this month that an employee leaked confidential information related to the listing of a coin inspired by the “Yellow Fruit Year” meme. The co-CEO of the platform, Ye He, addressed the incident.
Ye He stated that the community is now engaged in behavior unrelated to Binance by issuing coins based on Binance’s official Twitter account, statements, or excerpts from their posts, adding that we cannot stop publishing just because some people might try to find loopholes.
Binance also revealed that it distributed $100,000 in rewards to five whistleblowers who helped expose the misconduct.
The blacklist, rewards program and strict enforcement point to a broader approach by Binance to rebuild trust around the coin listing process.
This comes at a time when trading platforms are facing… Increasing pressure to demonstrate transparencyinternal control and fair market practices.
