Wikipedia's first sentence called it “cypriot enterprise specializing in binary options”. Today it says “israeli financial firm with a history of regulatory issues on three continents”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “File:Oren laurent.jpg CEO Oren Laurent”. It now reads “Israeli financial firm”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
On January 9, 2017, the company announced that it would be closing due to negative press coverage and its tarnished reputation. The firm also surrendered its brokerage license with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) removing its ability to legally trade in the European Union . Its 2014 revenues were reported as $100 million. It sold binary options on assets including foreign exchange . It was barred from accepting U.S. customers in August 2013 after being charged with several offenses by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a civil lawsuit. The company agreed to pay $11 million in restitution and fines to settle the suit. It is also banned from accepting customers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The company operated an online trading website through which customers could buy binary options, predicting whether the price of a certain commodity will go up or down in a specific time period, as short as 60 seconds. Banc De Binary was an associate of SpotOption Exchange which sets the price of the option. The price of the option was not a market price, but was set by SpotOption Exchange itself. The Wall Street Journal described it as "a website that allows people to bet on the price of gold, oil or stocks".
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 964575132.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Banc De Binary is a Cypriot enterprise specializing in binary options (also known as fixed return options) on assets including commodities , stocks , indices , and foreign exchange . The company operates an online trading website through which customers can buy or sell binary ("call" or "put") options, predicting whether the price of a certain commodity will go up or down in a specific time period. Banc De Binary customers do not execute their trades via a regulated exchange, but are 'betting' against the firm itself, and the firm only profits if the client loses. Banc De Binary is an associate of Spot Option Exchange which sets the price of the option. The price of the option is not a market price, but is set by Spot Option Exchange itself. The Wall Street Journal described it as "a website that allows people to bet on the price of gold, oil or stocks". The company has a history of regulatory issues on two continents, and was barred from accepting U.S. customers in August 2013 after being charged with several offences by the CFTC and SEC .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 655228415.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Banc De Binary was an Israeli financial firm with a history of regulatory issues on three continents. On January 9, 2017, the company announced that it would be closing due to negative press coverage and its tarnished reputation. The firm also surrendered its brokerage license with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) removing its ability to legally trade in the European Union . Its 2014 revenues were reported as $100 million. It sold binary options on assets including foreign exchange . It was barred from accepting U.S. customers in August 2013 after being charged with several offenses by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a civil lawsuit. The company agreed to pay $11 million in restitution and fines to settle the suit. It is also banned from accepting customers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The company operated an online trading website through which customers could buy binary options, predicting whether the price of a certain commodity will go up or down in a specific time period, as short as 60 seconds. Banc De Binary was an associate of SpotOption Exchange which sets the price of the option. The price of the option was not a market price, but was set by SpotOption Exchange itself. The Wall Street Journal described it as "a website that allows people to bet on the price of gold, oil or stocks".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176841861.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Israeli financial firm Banc De Binary was an Israeli financial firm with a history of regulatory issues on three continents. On January 9, 2017, the company announced that it would be closing due to negative press coverage and its tarnished reputation. The firm also surrendered its brokerage license with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) removing its ability to legally trade in the European Union . Its 2014 revenues were reported as $100 million. It sold binary options on assets including foreign exchange . It was barred from accepting U.S. customers in August 2013 after being charged with several offenses by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a civil lawsuit. The company agreed to pay $11 million in restitution and fines to settle the suit. It is also banned from accepting customers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The company operated an online trading website through which customers could buy binary options, predicting whether the price of a certain commodity will go up or down in a specific time period, as short as 60 seconds. Banc De Binary was an associate of SpotOption Exchange which sets the price of the option. The price of the option was not a market price, but was set by SpotOption Exchange itself. The Wall Street Journal described it as "a website that allows people to bet on the price of gold, oil or stocks".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1272734840. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “cypriot enterprise specializing in binary options”. Today it says “israeli financial firm with a history of regulatory issues on three continents”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “File:Oren laurent.jpg CEO Oren Laurent”. It now reads “Israeli financial firm”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
cypriot enterprise specializing in binary options
Now
israeli financial firm with a history of regulatory issues on three continents
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
