CJ Hetherington is a Canadian entrepreneur and public commentator known as the Chief Executive Officer of Limitless Labs, the company developing the Limitless prediction market platform. He gained significant public attention in October 2025 after making public allegations regarding the token listing practices of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. ^{[1] [9]}

Career

Hetherington serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Limitless Labs, the entity behind the Limitless prediction market. Limitless is a platform built on the Base blockchain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by Coinbase. The project is designed to offer a mobile-first experience for users to wager on the short-term price movements of crypto assets, presenting a simplified alternative to traditional derivatives. ^[9]

Under Hetherington's leadership, Limitless Labs secured significant funding and achieved early traction. The company raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by 1confirmation, followed by a $4 million strategic funding round announced on July 1, 2025, bringing its total funding to $7 million. The strategic round included investments from Arthur Hayes' family office, Maelstrom, with Hayes also joining the project as an advisor. Other notable investors include Coinbase Ventures, Collider, Node Capital, and Punk DAO. Shortly after its launch on Base, the platform reportedly surpassed $250 million in trading volume. In anticipation of a future Token Generation Event (TGE) and airdrop, the company launched a points program to reward early users and liquidity providers. Hetherington articulated the company's vision, stating, “The future of trading is easy, fast, and powered by an army of token holders. We’re excited to bring this vision to reality.” ^[9]

Prior to its strategic funding round, Limitless conducted a pre-sale on the Kaito AI platform that attracted over $200 million in USDC pledges against a $1 million target, setting a record for the launchpad. The pre-sale was conducted at a project valuation of $75 million. Hetherington noted that following the pre-sale's success, the Limitless team was contacted by "almost every major exchange" within a 24-hour period. ^[8]

In addition to his work with Limitless, Hetherington maintains a public profile through his social media presence and a Substack journal titled "Markets, tech & policy journal." Through these channels, he provides commentary on market trends, technology, and macroeconomic policy, with a particular focus on the Canadian economy. ^[8]

Binance Listing Controversy

In October 2025, Hetherington became a central figure in a widespread industry debate after he publicly disclosed what he alleged were the terms proposed by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance for listing the Limitless token. The disclosure sparked a significant controversy on social media and within the crypto community regarding the transparency and ethics of centralized exchange listing practices. ^{[10] [1]}

Hetherington's Allegations

On October 14, 2025, Hetherington posted on the social media platform X, detailing the requirements he claimed Binance presented for an "alpha listing." He publicly stated that he had not signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that would prevent him from sharing the terms. The alleged demands included significant token allocations and financial commitments. ^{[5] [10]}

The specific terms alleged by Hetherington were:

• Token Allocation: A total of 8% of the project's token supply to be distributed as follows:
  • 1% airdropped to Binance users on the first day of listing.
  • 3% airdropped over the subsequent six months.
  • 1% allocated for "marketing" at Binance's complete discretion.
  • 3% reserved for a "BNB HODLer programme."
• Financial Requirements:
  • A $250,000 security deposit.
  • $2 million worth of BNB tokens to be held as collateral for the spot listing.
  • $200,000 worth of tokens at the Most Favored Nation (MFN) price for Binance's affiliate marketers.
• Liquidity Provision: The project was required to provide 100% of the Total Value Locked (TVL) for the token's trading pool on PancakeSwap, specified as being over $1 million.

These claims were detailed in Hetherington's social media post and corroborated by multiple reports. ^{[5] [2] [3]}

Binance's Response

Binance and its representatives swiftly and publicly denied Hetherington's allegations. In a statement on X, the exchange called the claims "false and defamatory" and asserted that it "does not profit" from its token listing process. ^[7] The company accused Hetherington of attempting to "mislead the community and attack the integrity of Binance’s listing process" and stated that any claims of token dumping by the company or its founders were "untrue and unsubstantiated." ^{[8] [10] [3]}

Binance clarified that it does not charge listing fees and that any security deposits required from projects are refundable, typically within one to two years, and are intended as a "safeguard against short term exploitation." ^{[7] [8]} It also stated that "100%" of project token allocations go to users through various marketing campaigns and airdrops. The exchange threatened legal action against Hetherington for what it termed the "illegal and unauthorized disclosure of confidential communications." ^{[2] [8]}

The exchange's initial response post was later deleted. Binance addressed the deletion, stating, "While we stand by our position, the way we communicated was excessive and we sincerely apologize to our users, partners, and the wider industry." ^[8]

The controversy escalated when Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who is banned from working at the company, personally responded to Hetherington. After Hetherington posted an image suggesting Zhao had blocked him on X, Zhao replied, “Wow, this guy is really clout chasing, but what a loser. I didn’t even know who he was until he posted this fake image saying I blocked him.” ^{[8] [10]}

Industry and Community Reaction

The public dispute drew a divided reaction from the cryptocurrency industry. Some figures and community members voiced support for Hetherington, while others criticized his actions.

Support for Hetherington:

• Mike Dudas, founder of 6MV and a crypto investor, corroborated Hetherington's claims. Dudas stated on X that he had seen "listing proposals of the EXACT same nature" from Binance in the past month and alleged that the exchange had demanded nearly 10% of the total token supply from multiple projects for listing and token generation events. ^{[1] [7] [8]}
• Jesse Pollak, a key figure at Base, publicly supported Hetherington. Given that Limitless is built on Base and backed by Coinbase Ventures, Pollak's support was notable. He tweeted that it should cost "0% to list on an exchange" and expressed sympathy for Hetherington's position. ^[10]
• An anonymous user also claimed that Binance had required a "$1 million worth of tokens for airdrop and $1 million for trading comp" as a "first step" for listing consideration, with no guarantee of a final listing. ^[1]

Criticism of Hetherington:

• Crypto analyst Howard Peng described Hetherington as "immature" for his "unwarranted rant," suggesting he should have declined the offer privately. Peng also questioned the quality of the Limitless project, referencing its reliance on funding from the KaitoAI Launchpad. ^[3]
• X user "Mirror Tang" criticized Hetherington's disclosures as "unstructured and boastful," asserting that they violated the terms of an NDA without revealing substantial new information. ^[1]

The controversy fueled a broader crisis of confidence in the transparency of centralized exchanges and highlighted perceived conflicts of interest in their listing models. It also amplified the narrative favoring decentralized exchanges (DEXs) as a more open and equitable alternative, a sentiment echoed by other commentators in the space. The incident led to a significant increase in Hetherington's social media following, with one analysis noting a gain of nearly 9,000 followers on X within a 48-hour period. ^{[1] [6] [4]}

Public Commentary

Through his social media and Substack journal, Hetherington has commented on various topics related to technology and economics.

On Prediction Markets

Hetherington is a vocal proponent of prediction markets, which form the core of his company's product. He has publicly stated his belief that "prediction markets are going to be the most consequential asset class of the century," positioning Limitless as the platform to bring this asset class to a global audience on-chain. ^[8]

On the Canadian Economy

Hetherington has also offered critical analysis of the Canadian economy. In March 2025, he questioned the country's economic stagnation over the preceding decade, noting that despite its vast natural resources, Canada's GDP per capita growth had remained flat while that of the United States had grown steadily. He also highlighted that Canadian small business confidence had fallen to an all-time low, below levels seen during the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting the country was "heading for recession at faster rate than ever before." ^[8]