Editor’s Note:
The rapid growth of the internet has brought immense convenience, but it has also given rise to a massive industry: self-media. On June 20, 2018, an article titled “Ma Huateng on Black PR” sparked a nationwide discussion about unethical public relations. The unchecked expansion of the self-media sector, coupled with chaotic competition and lax oversight, has collectively nurtured a vast gray-market industrial chain centered on “black PR.”
Today, blockchain is a booming industry attracting a growing number of participants seeking profit. As a result, blockchain media has also drawn significant attention. At the same time, due to uneven quality and rampant misconduct in the media landscape, some outlets have succumbed to financial incentives, fabricating and spreading false information purely for gain. The blockchain industry has now entered the front lines of PR warfare, where smear campaigns—and counter-smear efforts—are commonplace.
Derivatives Emerge as a New Target for “Black PR”
After Bitcoin’s third halving, the anticipated “halving bull market” failed to materialize. Following a brief, sharp rebound after the March 12 (“312”) crash, BTC entered a prolonged period of sideways consolidation, with volatility gradually shrinking. In contrast, derivatives leverage can amplify returns from even minor price movements, and profits can be made whether prices rise or fall—attracting substantial hot money from both on-chain and off-chain sources. Exchanges have rushed to enter the derivatives market; according to industry estimates, there are now over 2,000 Bitcoin derivatives exchanges operating globally.
Since U.S.-based Tera Exchange launched the world’s first Bitcoin swap contract, crypto derivatives have entered a phase of rapid expansion. According to the latest data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), spot markets account for only about 12% of total financial derivatives activity—a figure that indirectly hints at the future trajectory of blockchain derivatives, where contract-based trading is becoming a new industry hotspot.
TokenInsight’s Q1 2020 Derivatives Exchange Industry Report shows that total digital asset derivatives trading volume in the first quarter surpassed $2 trillion—a 314% increase over the average quarterly volume in 2019. Daily average trading volume across the market reached $23.3 billion, up 274% year-on-year, with a single-day peak of $62.5 billion. This clearly demonstrates how aggressively capital is flowing into the derivatives space.
Without a doubt, 2020 marks the inaugural year for derivatives exchanges. Yet, amid this influx of hot money, derivatives platforms have become not only industry focal points but also prime targets for opportunists—the so-called “black PR” actors.
“Black PR” Expands Its Reach—Both Established and Emerging Exchanges Affected
Ever since so-called “fact-checking” media emerged, a flood of black media outlets has followed—not to uphold justice, but purely for profit. Their articles draw simplistic, blunt conclusions based on subjective criteria, stitching together fabricated claims solely to attract attention, with the ultimate goal of extortion and illicit gain. Given the recent surge in derivatives market activity, derivatives exchanges have become “cash cows” in the eyes of black PR operators.
Recently, black PR campaigns have intensified, targeting both top-tier and emerging derivatives exchanges alike. A Baidu search for leading exchanges like Huobi, OKEx, and Binance shows predominantly negative, smear-oriented news ranking at the top. Similarly, black PR tentacles have reached emerging derivatives platforms.
For instance, a user on a global online forum recently posted repeated claims such as, “XMEX is a scam platform that stole my hard-earned money—they won’t pay out profits! I have screenshot proof! This shady platform is about to exit—don’t fall for it!” This direct attack on XMEX sparked market speculation and concern.
According to XMEX’s public response, on March 13, the platform detected a large-scale malicious wash-trading operation. XMEX promptly contacted those involved and handled each account individually. Three months later, a group of accounts suddenly approached XMEX demanding payouts for illicit wash-trading profits—and deliberately fabricated stories online in an attempt to pressure XMEX into capitulation through public opinion.
After an in-depth investigation by XMEX’s technical team, it was discovered that all these so-called “rights-protection” accounts originated from the same IP address—meaning they were operated by a single criminal group. A review of posts from these black PR accounts revealed identical rhetoric and methods across multiple targeted platforms.
Clearly, black PR has evolved into a vertically integrated industrial chain comprising planners, freelance writers (“gunmen”), news sources, and paid commenters (“water armies”). Leveraging self-media as its vehicle, this ecosystem fabricates and spreads sensational, false content, then moves to extort victims directly—a practice euphemistically called “in-person partnership discussions” within the industry. In reality, it amounts to collecting “protection fees”: victims are forced to pay to have articles taken down. At current market rates, deleting a single article costs about 1–2 BTC—an astonishing sum.
“Black PR” Is Undermining the Entire Industry
By concocting exaggerated content to grab attention, inciting users to file complaints, and then exploiting those very complainants for profit, black PR actors treat each smear piece as a low-effort, high-return venture—earning hundreds of thousands of RMB per article. Yet this practice has thrown the blockchain industry into chaos. Frankly, black PR is actively destroying the entire sector.
For blockchain companies, a single black PR post can wipe out years of brand reputation overnight. The most immediate impact is massive user attrition—even triggering bank runs. Moreover, the enormous time, energy, and financial resources required to manage black PR incidents cause reputational damage that is extremely difficult to reverse.
For investors, black PR violates their right to accurate information, distorts facts, pollutes the blockchain industry’s information environment, and can lead to poor investment decisions—resulting in financial losses. Many black PR articles also lure investors into their communities to promote their own projects for profit. To black PR actors, investors are merely tools for enrichment—or a fresh cake to be carved up.
For the blockchain industry as a whole, black PR severely disrupts normal public discourse, hinders the healthy development of legitimate businesses, undermines fair and orderly competition, and degrades the overall market environment. Furthermore, black PR directly shapes how both insiders and outsiders perceive the blockchain industry—making it the biggest accomplice in the industry’s ongoing stigmatization.
How XMEX Is Pushing Back Against This “Toxic Trend”
As black PR intensifies across the blockchain industry, how are key players—especially exchanges—responding? To find out, we reached out to XMEX, the exchange recently impacted by black PR incidents.
XMEX has made it clear that it firmly rejects all black PR activities and fake “rights-protection” campaigns. Since its launch in December 2018, XMEX has consistently adhered to a user-first service philosophy and upheld principles of fairness and transparency in trading—amassing 1.5 million users to date. Currently, XMEX ranks #72 globally in comprehensive strength on Feixiaohao and #5 globally in 24-hour trading volume. These metrics reflect strong market confidence in XMEX’s security and reliability.
In terms of regulatory compliance, XMEX has officially obtained an MSB (Money Services Business) license under the guidance of FinCEN (the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network). This license allows XMEX to legally conduct cryptocurrency trading and advance derivatives development across all 50 U.S. states. XMEX welcomes regulation and remains committed to compliant, global operations.
Regarding fund security, XMEX employs a three-layer security system backed by comprehensive, independent security audits. The platform has built the industry’s most advanced hierarchical deterministic cold wallet architecture: every user’s deposit address is a cold wallet address, and fund aggregation and withdrawals are executed via offline signing—ensuring 100% security for users’ digital assets and making any “exit scam” impossible.
In product development, XMEX uses a high-performance order-matching engine designed to withstand extreme market conditions without system failure. Recently, XMEX launched a one-click copy-trading system that allows novice users to automatically follow experienced traders—a feature that has gained immense popularity among derivatives newcomers. XMEX offers 24/7 trading, flexible leverage settings, and a rich selection of mainstream perpetual contracts, all aimed at enhancing the value of users’ investments.
It is precisely XMEX’s robust underlying infrastructure that has allowed it not only to withstand black “rights-protection” attacks but also to maintain steady growth in trading volume.
Finally, XMEX urges others in the industry to break their silence: XMEX will not be the last target. Next time, who will it be—and will they withstand the pressure? That is a critical, even existential, question. XMEX advocates that influential institutions proactively unite to form a self-regulatory Integrity Alliance, working together to resist black PR chaos and safeguard the healthy development of the blockchain industry.