Binance sues ‘Cryptofelon’ for demanding 25 BTC domain name price

Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, and a Twitter user @cryptofelon dispute over ownership of the binance.ca domain name. Cryptofelon shouted, alleging Binance is using its power to force him to give up the domain name he acquired in 2017.

Cryptofelon detailed its claims in a Twitter feed on July 15, 2022, where he stated that Binance’s Executive Director of Global Partnerships, Min Lin, contacted him via LinkedIn on November 16, 2021, regarding the Canadian domain name.

The Binance official asked him to name his price, and he replied, “I would be willing to part with it for 30.0 BTC or 420.0 ETH.” The Binance executive deemed the price “unreasonable” and offered $6,500 instead. However, the two parties could not come to an agreement as the seller said he would not take anything below 25 bitcoins in exchange, which was worth over $1.8 million at the time.

Cryptofelon claimed that Binance suddenly blocked the offer, used coercion via threats of legal action, and accused it of violating the organization’s trademark rights. Binance also accused Cryptofelon of using the Binance name for excessive profit, a claim Cryptofelon strongly denied.

‍Cryptofelon argued that it registered the disputed domain name long before Binance acquired the rights to its trademark. He also claimed to have purchased the domain name for a project he was planning to set up.

It is common practice for people to register domain names hoping that someone or a company will be willing to acquire them at a good price in the future. For example, a 2010 report from Techcrunch reveals how Facebook paid up to $8.5 million to acquire Fb.com from the previous owner.

Cryptofelon had, in April 2022, told how he bought a domain for $16 and sold it to a centralized exchange for almost half a million dollars.

Binance is currently challenging this case in Canadian court, while the domain registrar of binance.ca has received a court order to suspend Cryptofelon’s access to it.