When it comes to weaving a fun story, it’s tough to beat the news media. That’s why we’re skeptical of the explanation crypto exchange Binance is giving for its $200 million investment in Forbes. This is likely less about Binance helping Forbes adapt to Web3 and more about saving Forbes’ SPAC deal from a BuzzFeed-like embarrassment.

Let’s consider the sequence of events. Last August, investors committed to putting up $400 million as part of the SPAC merger, according to a securities filing by Forbes’ SPAC partner, Magnum Opus (yes, that’s really its name). Forbes was lucky to have secured the commitments. By that point, conditions in the SPAC market had turned chilly—particularly for media firms—even though the stock market was still booming. But a lot has changed in the past six months.