WLFI recently hyped its founders’ meeting with former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in Abu Dhabi, triggering speculations about a potential partnership between the two crypto-related entities. World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is gearing up for a potential expansion on the global stage. After recent talks with the Pakistan Crypto Council, the founders of the Trump-supported decentralized finance (DeFi) platform confirmed meeting up with former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao in Abu Dhabi.
WLFI Founders Meet Former Binance CEO CZ On Sunday evening, WLFI announced that its founders, Zach Witkoff, Zak Folkman, and Chase Hero, had a meeting with Zhao. It claimed the parties discussed the growing global adoption of crypto. The DeFi platform believes it could pave the way to new standards in the industry, which could further propel digital assets to the next level.
Based on WLFI’s post, it almost sounded like the event was more than a chance meeting between its founders and the former Binance boss. This catalyzed mixed reactions from the crypto community. A commenter reminded others that Zhao once vowed that he would never meet up with US President Donald Trump’s officials for any kind of deal.
CZ’s statement came amid speculations of him being privy to an agreement between Trump’s family and Binance for the acquisition of the latter’s US arm, which pleaded guilty to violations of anti-money laundering rules in 2023. Another criticized him for “working with scammers now.” CZ’s Confirmation of Meeting On the other hand, Zhao merely acknowledged his encounter with Witkoff and Bilal Bin Saqib, a Forbes-recognized crypto advisor. He didn’t elaborate on whether he indeed had extensive talks with the WLFI guys or what the conversation was all about.
CZ joked that the traditional media would surely find a way to put up a negative spin on the event. Nonetheless, he assured the crypto community that he will continue building on the future of the digital assets industry regardless of what the mainstream media throws at him. The former Binance CEO was clearly referencing his earlier allegations that some people had been orchestrating a smear campaign against him.
He didn’t emphasize the reason for such a move, but he identified the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) as one of the traditional media entities that were out to get him in a bad light. The finance publication notably wrote an article asserting that Zhao ratted on Tron founder and CEO Justin Sun to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to bargain for a shorter prison term. CZ dismissed the post as a hit piece against his person, saying its allegations were unfounded.
For the record, Sun signed Tron’s $30 million investment into WLFI last year, indicating his strong backing with the emergence of the US as a global blockchain hub under the Trump administration.
