In late November, the leading crypto trade publication CoinDesk published a story about the latest antics by one of the industry’s more outlandish figures. The article recounted how blockchain billionaire Justin Sun ate the banana he had purchased for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s from the modern artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The article was titled “I Watched Justin Sun Eat the World’s Most Expensive Banana. I Don’t Get It.” It provided context about the art world and the banana-eating stunt, as well as background on Sun, including his run-in with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has charged him with fraud. Sun and Tron have moved to dismiss the lawsuit. The Coindesk report also noted that Sun’s lawyers have threatened media outlets with legal action for reporting on the use of Tron, the blockchain he founded, for illicit finance.
Soon, CoinDesk faced pressure of its own. After Sun’s team complained about the tone of the piece, CoinDesk’s owners, the crypto exchange Bullish, demanded editorial staff remove it from the publication’s website, according to sources familiar with the matter. Tron is a major sponsor of CoinDesk’s flagship Consensus conference series. (A version of the article still appears online through a syndication agreement with Yahoo News.)
In response, sources close to CoinDesk say the site’s journalists raised concerns over editorial independence, including at a newsroom meeting last week with Bullish CEO Tom Farley and CoinDesk CEO Sara Stratoberdha, and asked for the article to be restored with an editor’s note.
The incident highlights the growing tension between CoinDesk, an award-winning outlet whose reporting is largely credited for exposing the massive fraud at FTX, and its new owner Bullish, which purchased the publication late last year. It also reflects the increasing influence of Sun, who bought $30 million of tokens from President-elect Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial in November and joined the crypto project as an advisor.
Farley did not respond to multiple requests for comment across different channels. CoinDesk editor-in-chief Kevin Reynolds and a spokesperson for Sun did not respond to a request for comment.
New ownership
Founded in 2013, CoinDesk went on the block last year as its parent company, Digital Currency Group, sought to firm up its balance sheet. After a prolonged search for a buyer, DCG sold CoinDesk to Bullish late last year for around $75 million, significantly less than the “multiple” offers north of $200 million that the Wall Street Journal reported in early 2023.
Bullish is a crypto exchange similar to Coinbase and Binance, though it lags far behind in market share. Led by Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange, Bullish is a spinout of Block.one, a crypto firm that raised over $4 billion in 2018 for its blockchain EOS, though it never built a lasting product.
When Bullish purchased CoinDesk, it pledged that the publication would operate as an independent subsidiary and appointed former editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal Matt Murray to serve as chair of an editorial committee. Murray also joined the Washington Post as executive editor in June, though he remained at his CoinDesk post, which remained a one-person committee. He resigned from CoinDesk on Monday, according to sources familiar with the matter. Murray declined to comment.
Bullish also appears to have major financial ambitions for the coming year, though it is unclear how CoinDesk fits into them. Last week, Bullish sent an email, viewed by Fortune, informing employees that it was preparing for an initial public offering and to keep any such plans confidential. CoinDesk editorial staffers were included in the email blast.
