The cryptocurrency exchange Binance has found itself at the center of a scandal following allegations of extorting fees and bonuses for listing new projects. CEO of the startup Limitless Labs, C.J. Hetherington, claimed that he received a collaboration proposal from Binance that included a number of demands, among which were a share of the token airdrop, a significant deposit, and other financial conditions.
This is reported by Finway
Allegations from Limitless Labs and Community Reaction
Hetherington published what he claimed was a letter outlining Binance’s demands, which stated that they required 1% of the airdrop on the first day, another 3% of the airdrop after six months, 1% of tokens for marketing at the exchange’s discretion, ensuring 100% TVL for the token pool on Pancake Swap (equivalent to $1 million), a collateral deposit of $250,000, and reserving 3% for the BNB HODLer program. Overall, according to Hetherington, Binance demanded about 8% of the token airdrop and a significant amount in fiat.
He compared these conditions to those of the exchange Coinbase, which, he said, only asked for the creation of a meaningful product within the Base ecosystem. The Limitless Labs project already has support from Coinbase Ventures and the Base Ecosystem Fund, and after funding in July 2025, its total investment reached $7 million.
Other market participants joined in criticizing Binance. Founder of 6MV, Mike Dudas, confirmed that similar demands had been made by Binance to other teams and stated that he had not signed an NDA, thus he could openly discuss the exchange’s practices. In his opinion, Binance has adhered to a similar approach for years in selecting projects for listing.
Binance’s Official Position and Management Comments
In response to the accusations, Binance publicly stated that the information regarding listing fees is defamatory and threatened legal action. Subsequently, the exchange’s official post was deleted, but it remained in the form of screenshots on social media. Binance representatives explained that the deposit is necessary to protect user interests, and the tokens are used as rewards, denying any benefit to the exchange in the listing process. They also emphasized that allegations of market manipulation are unfounded, and disclosing confidential information could lead to legal consequences for Hetherington.
“The community may have noticed that we deleted our previous post in Binance CS in response to the discussion about our listing process. While we stand by our position, our manner of communication was excessive, and we sincerely apologize to our users, partners, and the entire industry as a whole.”
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao emphasized that exchanges independently pay attention to strong projects and urged developers to focus on product quality. Co-founder Yi He explained that all marketing expenses are transparent, and the deposit is refundable. Regarding the Binance Alpha program, she stressed that the fundamental reliability of the product is the most important factor, rather than an aggressive push for token listing.
At this time, representatives of Limitless Labs have refrained from further comments. Binance also promised to provide an official response if necessary. The situation has sparked lively discussion within the cryptocurrency community, which is awaiting further developments.