Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao a.k.a CZ has been banned from Binance for lifetime. Initial reports suggested that this ban would be for three years however, news from Axios says otherwise. This ban will prevent CZ from returning to his leadership position at Binance.
Authorities charged CZ with multiple violations related to Binance’s operations in the US. He stepped down from his position as the CEO of Binance in November 2023 and Richard Teng took his chair. In May 2024, a court sentenced him to four months in jail for financial crimes. Earlier reports claimed he would face at least three years in prison.
Authorities charged Zhao with several allegations, including offering unregistered securities, market manipulation, and failing to comply with anti-money laundering protocols. Even though Binance is the biggest crypto exchange on a global level, it got in trouble with the authorities. Many say that CZ’s decision to step down as CEO was the first part of his deal with US authorities. The second part is banning him from taking any executive position in the exchange. This was a major condition of the agreement between Binance and US authorities.
When CZ was the CEO of Binance, he was the sole director of the company, however after his departure as company head there are seven board members. DOJ has appointed two external board members to keep an eye on Binance so it follows the protocols.
The founder of Binance has denied that he will become the head of any company in the future. He now only plans to invest in innovative and emerging tech projects based on Blockchain and AI.
After paying a $50 million penalty and spending four months in prison, CZ will be released on September 29, in three weeks. Now that Binance is permanently off-limits to him, it will be interesting to see which projects he chooses to invest in.
Binance made tremendous progress under CZ’s leadership and became the world’s No.1 crypto exchange. Now, the whole world will be watching to see what happens to Binance after CZ’s departure.
