INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Changpeng Zhao had long cultivated the image of the rugged pugilist of the cryptocurrencies world
yanking his money in a very public way and helping trigger the ultimately fatal run on the firms
down jurisdiction.And this March, when US regulators charged Zhao and his firm,Binance Holdings, with violating US securities laws, his
different image in a Seattle courtroom
Dressed in dark suit and pale blue tie before a federal judge, he pleaded guilty to criminal charges for anti-money laundering and US
sanctions violations, including allowing transactions with Hamas and other terrorist groups, under a sweeping deal with the Justice
department designed to keep the biggest crypto exchange operating
Binance itself agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay over $4 billion in penalties
marks the second time in less than a year that the crypto universe, still reeling from a crash that shaved some $2 trillion off the value of
the market, loses one of its biggest stars
Bankman-Fried may have been the best known name in crypto but Zhao, worth almost $100 billion at his zenith in early 2022, was the
wealthiest and most powerful
Richard Teng, a civil servant-turned-crypto executive, succeeded Zhao
Binance Coin, a cryptocurrency also known as BNB that is the main transactional token on the exchange, dropped more than 8% on Tuesday
Zhao played a key role in bringing cryptocurrencies into the mainstream
scrutiny from regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world along the way
other illicit activities behind it
Several entrepreneurs associated with that era, from Bankman-Fried to Do Kwon and Alex Mashinsky, are either in jail or have been charged
with alleged crimes that led to multibillion-dollar losses
Zhao faces as many as 10 years in prison but is expected to get no more than 18 months under a plea deal that appears to have saved him from
the harsh penalties that other prominent crypto criminals have faced
was 12 and became a Canadian citizen
With a computer science degree from McGill University, he began a career building trading systems, including a stint at Bloomberg LP, the
parent company of Bloomberg News.In 2013, Zhao was running his own software company in Shanghai when he discovered Bitcoin over a poker game
After working at crypto firms Blockchain.info and OKCoin, he started Binance in 2017 together with Chief Marketing Officer Yi He, with whom
Binance quickly embarked on an acquisition spree that saw it morph into a brokerage, digital wallet, venture fund, custody service, data
Within just a few years, Zhao was the richest person in crypto
on airplanes in 2022 by his own estimate
The lack of separation between business actives such as custodial and trading services common among crypto exchanges, unlike in traditional
hedge fund he also controlled, Alameda Research, which had made huge losing bets
stampede to withdraw money from FTX.Bankman-Fried was convicted of a massive fraud in early November and is awaiting sentencing
He faces the possibility of decades in prison
Binance and other exchanges have argued that they present no similar risks because all of their client assets are kept separated and thus
available for withdrawal at any time
In the third quarter, the exchange has accounted for about 38% of all trading volumes across the spot market, down from nearly 55% in the
first quarter of the year, according to researcher CCData
By comparison, Coinbase Global Inc., the biggest US crypto exchange, had a 5.7% market share in the quarter.While Zhao publicly displayed
defiance amid the charges, Binance authorities were working with regulators behind the scenes
It actually represented, they snickered, the $4 billion fine Binance would pay.
