Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has served his four-month prison sentence and has been released from custody as of Friday.
Although he has stepped down as the chief executive of Binance, he is still the largest stakeholder.
Recall the events that took place almost a year ago when the US Department of Justice announced a massive $4.3 billion settlement with the then-CZ-led exchange.
This came after years of investigations from different entities, and Binance, as well as its founder, pled guilty to willfully floundering the Bank Secrecy Act.
Zhao’s guild plea was for failing to implement a strong anti-money laundering (AML) program. He had to step down as the CEO of Binance and paid a $50 million penalty.
In late April, CZ was also slapped with a four-month prison sentence, which was a lot less than the requested three years. At the time, he said:
“I will do my time, conclude this phase, and focus on the next chapter of my life (education). I will remain a passive investor (and holder) in crypto. Our industry has entered a new phase. Compliance is super important. A silver lining of this whole process is that Binance has been under the microscope. And funds are SAFU. Protect users!”
His sentence was supposed to end on September 29, but because it falls on a Sunday, he was released on the last working day before the weekend – Friday.
Binance’s native token performed well during this week when CZ was supposed to be released. It’s up by 6% on a seven-day scale and sits well above $600. According to some reports, Zhao still owns about 64% of BNB’s total supply.
CZ has said before that he already has ideas of what to do upon his release from prison. Called Giggle Academy, the project will aim to provide free education in a gamified and adaptive manner.