On September 27, Fortune magazine reported that on Friday, Zhao Changpeng will step onto the streets of Long Beach, California as a free man for the first time. This is the first time he has regained his freedom in months.
This was two days earlier than his official release date, because if the release date falls on a weekend, prisoners will leave the detention center early.
Zhao Changpeng has been in federal detention since April after agreeing to return to the United States from Dubai to serve a five-month sentence for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls at Binance, the company he founded.
During that time, Zhao Changpeng spent about two months in a minimum-security prison in the California desert before being transferred to a halfway house in Long Beach, where he was allowed supervised outings and even trips to a movie theater, according to prison officials.
Now, with Zhao Changpeng returning to society with a personal fortune of about $60 billion — the world’s 25th largest — and his legal troubles behind him, he will have more options.
Zhao Changpeng's lawyer said that Zhao Changpeng hoped not to be interviewed on the day of his release. However, some media have made some speculations about his next move.
Zhao Changpeng's first stop will likely be Dubai or Paris, where his children live with their mother He Yi.
In addition, the media expects that with Zhao Changpeng's release from prison, more details about the Giggle Academy project he initiated before his imprisonment may emerge in the coming months. In addition to family and charity, Zhao Changpeng, who is now free, may turn his attention to a third pursuit: the cryptocurrency industry that made him extremely rich and dominated the past decade.
However, in the cryptocurrency space, Zhao Changpeng faces a major dilemma: according to his criminal settlement agreement, he must resign as CEO of Binance and stay away from any "day-to-day" activities of the company. At the same time, the settlement agreement also requires Binance to accept two external monitors appointed by the US government to ensure compliance.
Despite these obvious limitations, even if Zhao is no longer CEO, he will still be the company's largest shareholder, which should give him considerable influence over the company's future direction.
In response to a request for comment on Zhao’s release, a Binance spokesperson said: “We are glad that Changpeng Zhao is reunited with his family. While he no longer manages or operates Binance, we are excited to see what he does next. Since last year, Binance has continued to thrive under the leadership of our current team and has grown to over 229 million users worldwide.”
Finally, it’s worth noting that Changpeng Zhao is only 47 years old — the prime of many executives’ careers and the age at which many first assume the CEO role.
All of this suggests that Changpeng Zhao is well prepared for his second act, and that his influence will continue to be felt in the cryptocurrency and business worlds for years to come.
