Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was released early from custody on Sept. 27, and the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and Binance’s BNB (BNB) token dipped slightly since the start of the trading day.
According to a previous Forbes report, Zhao holds 64% of the total BNB supply, placing the entrepreneur’s net worth around $61 billion in June 2024 and making him the 24th richest person in the world at the time. Zhao’s vast holdings of Binance’s native currency sparked concern about the centralization of the token once the report was published.
Today, the 94 million BNB tokens held by Zhao represent roughly $57 billion in value at the time of writing — a significant reduction when measured against prices in June 2024, which topped $700.
A 2024 analysis conducted by Gray Wolf Analytics and Forbes revealed that 80 million BNB tokens were initially allocated to the original Binance team. Additionally, the company still holds around 46 million of those tokens.
Department of Justice charges and settlement impact BNB price
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against Binance and Zhao in 2023 — alleging that the Binance founder violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
In a joint filing from the US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, the US Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the government regulators stated:
“While Binance is not a publicly traded company, Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world and news related to Zhao and Binance’s criminal and civil liability is likely to have a significant effect on trading of various cryptocurrencies.”
This statement turned out to be accurate, and on Nov. 21, the price of BNB rose by approximately 7% within 24 hours following news of a $4 billion settlement between Binance and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC settlement ended up costing Binance $4.3 billion dollars, and Zhao was fined an additional $50 million as part of the agreement. Additionally, the DOJ stipulated that Binance must have independent monitoring over the next three years and appointed the Forensic Risk Alliance to monitor the company’s business operations.
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