KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu launches 'Anti-FUD Fund'

The CEO of crypto exchange KuCoin says it is launching an "Anti-FUD Fund" to track down and potentially take legal action against "FUDers" and educate crypto users on identifying misinformation.

Johnny Lyu, CEO of the exchange announced the fund in a July 26 Twitter thread and comes only days after publishing a blog post criticizing Twitter user "Otteroooo" for spreading misinformation about his firm. 

(1/5) FUD benefits no one except the FUDers. It misleads investors and harms the industry’s image and market confidence.

To build a crypto space with less FUD, #KuCoin is going to launch an Anti-FUD Fund.

Currently, the fund will mainly focus on...

thread pic.twitter.com/dWA93nEmHz

— Johnny_KuCoin (@lyu_johnny) July 26, 2022

Lyu said the Anti-FUD fund will cover three elements, the first being education, which will “deliver knowledge, including what is FUD and how to distinguish it” through online and offline means.

The fund will also motivate and spread acclaim for industry leaders and influencers who are responsible and help followers or product users avoid FUD.

Finally, the fund will seek to weed out and take legal action against individuals who “intentionally spread FUD.”

Speaking to Indian Express earlier this week, Lyu addressed the topic of market FUD saying that people who spread rumors should be held accountable for their words as they can affect the market and that Web 3.0 technology can help increase tracking technology.

“The accountability mechanism in the Web 2.0 era is not mature enough and the cost of spreading rumors is very low.”

He made the comments with the outlet at the same time as noting the firm is making efforts to expand its services into India.

The Fund’s launch comes a short time since Lyu had a heated exchange with crypto industry whistleblower Otteroooo on July 2.

Otteroooo accused KuCoin of having exposure to the former Wrapped LUNA (wLUNA) token which crashed in dramatic fashion in May, leaving the exchange insolvent. Lyu denied that the exchange had internal exposure to LUNA and is not insolvent. Otteroooo's account has since been removed from Twitter.

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Lyu’s new crusade against FUD and the individuals who spread it may be welcome news to many in the crypto industry, but it may come with a caveat. Whereas some defenders of crypto projects attempt to fight back against false claims designed to denigrate a project, others believe that any negative press is FUD regardless of its veracity.

An example of the latter comes from the founder of online investment platform BanktoTheFuture Simon Dixon. He pointed out on July 26 that his qualms about beleaguered crypto lender Celsius’s balance sheet were met with criticisms that he was merely spreading FUD. However, Dixon, who has supported several efforts to rescue Celsius from its troubles, claimed that his concerns were legitimate and data-based.