CoinDesk's Top Editors Fired After Removing Article About Justin Sun's Banana Consumption
CoinDesk owner Bullish fired three top editors on Friday amid controversy over a deleted article about crypto billionaire Justin Sun. Editor-in-Chief Kevin Reynolds and Deputy Editors-in-Chief Nick Baker and Marc Hochstein lost their positions after the newsroom protested the removal of a story about Sun eating a $6.2 million banana artwork.
The original article, written by reporter Callan Quinn, described Sun's purchase of Maurizio Cattelan's artwork "Comedian" at Sotheby's for $6.2 million and his subsequent public consumption of the banana at Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel. The piece also included background information about Sun's legal challenges.
In her article, Quinn expressed doubts about considering a banana taped to wall as art. But the subsequent events - corporate censorship, journalist protests and editorial resignations - transformed the banana story itself into a real piece of performance art.
According to Fortune Crypto article, Sun's team complained about the article's tone to Bullish management. Bullish CEO Tom Farley then ordered the story's removal in early December without the standard retraction notice. The decision led to strong opposition from CoinDesk's editorial staff, who wrote a letter to management calling the retraction "outrageous" and warning it violated journalistic ethics.
The conflict also resulted in the resignation of Matt Murray, former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief, who served as chair of CoinDesk's editorial committee. Murray had been appointed to maintain editorial independence after Bullish acquired CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group for $75 million in late 2023.
CoinDesk journalists raised concerns about Bullish's growing control over the newsroom. In their letter to management, staff noted they were "fully absorbed into Bullish" despite promises of independence, sharing office space and technology with the crypto exchange. They also mentioned restrictions on publishing opinion articles to avoid offending industry leaders.
"Killing a story is the cardinal sin, the ultimate breach of journalistic standards," said Jason Yanowitz, Co-Founder of Blockworks. "This feels like the acceleration of the end. Crypto was a better place because of CoinDesk."
The situation reflects broader tensions between editorial independence and business interests in crypto media. Tron is a major sponsor of CoinDesk's Consensus conference series, which is launching an event in Hong Kong. The dismissals came as Bullish prepares for an initial public offering, according to an internal email sent to all employees, including newsroom staff.
