Welcome back, CZ.
For the first time in several months, Changpeng Zhao will be free and walking the streets of Long Beach, California on Friday. Everyone calls Zhao "CZ." Zhao agreed to return to the United States from Dubai to complete a four-month sentence for failing to put in place adequate anti-money laundering procedures at Binance, the massive cryptocurrency exchange he established. Zhao has been in federal prison since April. Prior to being moved to a halfway house in Long Beach, where, per a prison official, he would have been allowed to go on supervised outings and even to the movies, Zhao had spent around two months at a minimal security jail in the California desert.
With his legal issues behind him and a personal wealth of almost $60 billion, the 25th largest in the world, Zhao will now have a lot more alternatives when he returns to society. Zhao's lawyer informed Fortune that client did not want to be interviewed the day of his release, and Zhao did not immediately respond to a direct message asking about his plans. However, it is feasible to speculate about his future actions with some degree of accuracy.
He will probably hop into a luxury car and be driven to a private plane in Long Beach or Los Angeles on Friday, when he gets released two days ahead of his scheduled release date (if a release date occurs on a weekend, inmates leave detention early). His first destination will probably be Dubai or Paris, where his kids reside with their mother, He Ye, a former love partner of Zhao's who also holds a senior executive position at Binance.
Zhao discussed his distant yet intelligent late father in a 2023 interview with Fortune. He voiced concern that he may have inherited some of his inattentive tendencies. Zhao might choose to spend more time with his mother, sister, and son after serving his sentence in prison, as they all attested to his character and supported him at his sentencing this spring. This would be his way of making up for lost time. The sentencing judge was persuaded to accept what some consider to be a moderate five-month sentence by the endorsements of his family. Zhao's “extraordinary commitments and dedication to philanthropic activity across the planet” also played a role, according to the judge.
For the time being, it's unclear how much Zhao will actually do to fulfil those charitable promises. He started a project called Giggle Academy before he was imprisoned, with the goal of providing kids all across the world with free, entertaining, and easily accessible learning resources. "I want to provide others, especially our youth, opportunity in the next chapter of my life. During his sentence hearing, Zhao stated, "I'm building a platform to provide high-quality education for underprivileged kids, all over the world, for free."
Giggle Academy seems to be little more than a website for the time being. There are a number of job postings on the website that date back several months, but there is no information on project schedules or the type and amount of funding involved. Given Zhao's previous circumstances, this is certainly not surprising, and it's possible that more information regarding Giggle Academy will surface in the months to come. The now-free Zhao may focus on a third endeavour in addition to his family and charitable work: the Bitcoin market, which brought him great wealth and which he dominated for more than 10 years.
However, Zhao has a significant obstacle in the cryptocurrency space: as part of the conditions of his criminal settlement, he had to resign as CEO of Binance and refrain from participating in any "day to day" operations related to the business. In order to assure compliance, Binance is also required by the settlement to submit to two external monitors appointed by the US government. Notwithstanding these ostensible limitations, Binance no longer conducts business in the United States in favour of Asia and offshore markets. Zhao is still the company's largest shareholder, so even if he steps down as CEO, he should still have a big say in how the business develops.
"We are delighted that CZ will be home with his family," a Binance spokesman responded in response to a request for comment regarding Zhao's release. Even if he is not running or managing Binance, we are interested in seeing what he will do next. Under the direction of our current team, Binance has grown significantly since last year, topping 229 million users worldwide. It's also important to keep in mind that Zhao is only 47 years old, which is both the prime age for many executives' careers and the age at which many are taking on their first CEO position. All of this indicates that Zhao is well-prepared for a second act and that the cryptocurrency and business worlds will continue to benefit from his influence for some time to come.
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