- Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has been released from prison.
- Zhao served a four-month prison sentence following his guilty plea for money laundering charges involving his former company Binance.
- The ex-Binance boss is reportedly worth over $60 billion, even after his prison sentence.
Binance founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as CZ, was released from prison on Friday after completing a four month prison sentence. Zhao, identified by reg. number 88087-510 by the US Bureau of Prisons was officially slated for release on Sunday next week, but was fortunately let out two days earlier by federal authorities.
Crypto Industry Celebrates CZ Comeback
The crypto industry is astir with jubilation following the billionaire crypto mogul’s comeback. CZ is no doubt, one of the most influential figures in the industry, especially because of the pivotal role he played as the pioneer of the largest crypto exchange, opening the door for innovation in the ecosystem.
CZ made his first social media post since his release at 2:54 am UTC on Saturday, gaining tremendous engagement and reaching over a million people in just an hour. His release is widely viewed as a bullish signal for crypto generally, especially assets under the Binance ecosystem, from a fundamental analytics point of view.
The crypto boss, alongside his former firm Binance, pled guilty to US money laundering violations and sanctions violations last year, setting the country back over $4.3 billion in fines and fees.
As part of the settlement arrangement with US authorities, CZ paid $200 million in fines and stepped down as the CEO of Binance, handing over to the current CEO who was the company’s global head of regional markets.
CZ Still In Top 50 World’s Richest People Post-Detention
While in custody in Lompoc II, a low security Federal prison in California, CZ was named the wealthiest inmate in the United States. Forbes also names the crypto mogul as the 50th richest person in the world and the richest Canadian while capping his net worth at $33 billion,
The crypto visionary started his career as a software developer for stockbrokers and worked his way through the ranks and became highly successful building automated stocks trading systems.
Upon learning about Bitcoin in 2013, CZ said he sold his apartment and invested everything in the crypto, riding with the undulating prices till it surged enough to make him a fortune.
In 2017, Zhao founded Binance as a way to onboard more people into crypto. The giant crypto exchange now has over 200 million users globally and seems to be fulfilling the crypto evangelist’s vision for the firm almost a year after his resignation.
Before his detention, CZ launched an educational initiative called Giggle Academy to offer free basic education to children via a gamified and adaptive learning process.
CZ’s Giggle Academy will target unprivileged children in developing nations and offer them free education in various disciplines, including Math, Basic reading and Writing, Programming, Arts, etc. According to him, it is the “most impactful thing” he could do for the next chapter of his life.
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