Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ within the crypto community, is reportedly set to walk free today following a four-month sentence in the US. He was scheduled to be released two days later; however, the timing was adjusted because the original date fell on a weekend.
Zhao’s sentence was divided between two months in a low-security prison and the remainder at a halfway house in Long Beach, California.
His conviction stemmed from accusations that he did not maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program at the crypto exchange.
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Although CZ has yet to make any public statements, his legal team has hinted that his immediate focus will be on his family—his children and former partner He Yi, who remains a key figure at Binance.
Before his sentence, CZ had expressed interest in charitable work. In April, he announced the Giggle Academy project, an initiative designed to provide free educational tools for children worldwide. However, little progress has been reported, and updates have been scarce during his time away.
Even though Zhao has stepped down as CEO of Binance and has agreed to limit his involvement in daily operations as part of a settlement with US authorities, he still wields influence in the company due to his majority ownership stake.
The buzz around CZ’s return has coincided with a surge in BNB’s price, which climbed by 1.9% over the past day and 5.3% over the past week, trading at $601.18 as of writing.
Thus, CZ’s influence in crypto is still significant, with the market’s reaction to his release serving as proof.
In other news, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison was recently sentenced to two years and ordered to forfeit $11 billion for her role in the FTX collapse.
Gode is a Web3 Market Analyst who researches the most important industry events and interprets how they affect the wider Web3 space. Her formal education in media culture & digital rhetoric allows her to employ a methodical approach to evaluating critical Web3 news data, including large-scale events and the wider social sentiment within the ecosystem.
Gode is a mutilingual professional, having studied in multiple universities all across Europe. This allows her to have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to analyze Web3 social sentiments spanning different cultures and languages and, in turn, develop a much deeper understanding of how the Web3 space is growing within different communities. With the rest of her team, Gode works to identify crucial crypto news patterns and provide unbiased and data-driven information.
Gode’s passions include working and communicating with people, and when she’s not researching Web3 news, she spends her time traveling and watching true crime documentaries.
