For many years, the crypto market has had a "secret that everyone knows but few dare to speak of": individuals or organizations claiming to be "Internal Representatives" promise to ensure tokens are listed on Binance if the project pays a huge "Bribery Fee". This shady mechanism has put heavy pressure on blockchain startups, distorting the competitive environment. Binance has just launched a powerful, direct, and unprecedented counterattack.

A Direct Blow to the Underground Market

Not just stopping at warnings, Binance publicly released a blacklist of companies and individuals faking relationships with the exchange, while offering rewards of up to 5 million USD for information leading to investigations and prosecutions of these individuals. This is no longer a mere formal statement, but a large-scale crackdown.

What Happened?

  • Yi He – co-founder of Binance – publicly called on projects to ignore all ‘guaranteed listing’ offers in exchange for money.

  • Binance announced a blacklist naming organizations like BitABC, Central Research, along with several individuals accused of impersonating exchange staff.

  • The core principle is reaffirmed:only the core team of the projectis allowed to submit listing applicationsthrough the official portal.
    👉 Any project using intermediaries risks being immediately eliminated.

Why is this Movement Important for the Entire Market?

1. Cleaning Up the Ecosystem
Publicly confronting ‘backdoor’ models helps restore trust and reduce distortion in the crypto industry.

2. Fairer for Real Projects
Projects with good products and solid technology but without ‘under-the-table’ relationships will have a fairer chance to compete.

3. Strengthening Security and Transparency
The whistleblower reward program shows that Binance is willing to spend real money and take real action to protect its ecosystem.

Not Just a One-Time Event

This move is part of Binance's long-term strategy to rebuild trust, alongside:

  • Expanding operations in new markets like Indonesia

  • Tightening internal processes and upgrading security systems

Binance is sending a clear message:

Listing is not a commodity to be bought and sold, but the result of real value.

Conclusion

Can this strict policy completely wipe out the ‘listing brokers’ in crypto? Perhaps not immediately. But surely, this is a major turning point, making underground tricks riskier and harder to sustain than ever. In a still-young market like crypto, transparency is not just an option – it is a vital condition. Binance has chosen to stand at the forefront of that battle.