In a letter to the judge, Binance co-founder Yi He talked about meeting Changpeng Zhao (CZ), as well as his goals and actions as CEO of the exchange.
Ideals
The top manager started by being CZ's partner and the mother of his three children. She met him in the spring of 2014 at a conference.
"Then he had just sold his house to buy bitcoin. His assets have plummeted due to lower prices, but that hasn't shaken his obsession with technology. Zhao's speech was filled with idealism about the positive changes that blockchain can bring to the world," He recalls.
CZ later founded Binance, but his "ultimate goal was not money," says the co-founder of the exchange.
Hae also told how they worked together at OKCoin. During another market downturn, one of the employees fell ill with leukemia, so his colleagues organized a fundraiser.
Subsequently, this inspired Zhao and He to create the Caring BTC charity project, which became the forerunner of Binance Charity.
"Many people believe that philanthropy is only needed for PR. Some use it as a means to offset taxes. [...] As for CZ, regardless of his financial condition, he takes charity seriously and assumes social responsibility through kindness and the spirit of humanism," the letter says.
According to the co-founder of the company, at the dawn of Binance, users often sent altcoins to the platform that she did not support, and lost money. Although the exchange's policy implied personal responsibility for funds, CZ decided to help users.
"Under Zhao's leadership, Binance has helped more than 180,000 clients recover assets totaling over $441 million," He said.
"Do the right thing"
According to Zhao's colleague, CZ's main motto in business is "do the right thing." This also applied to cases of crime or fraud.
One day, one of the Chinese users reported to tech support that he was tricked into investing in a crypto project, and then funds were stolen, which were sent to Binance.
Then, on Zhao's advice, the exchange froze the suspicious transaction until law enforcement intervened, although it could not have done so. As a result, the scammer returned the money and closed the account, He shared.
Despite attempts by the media to portray CZ as a villain, "millions of community members and ordinary people consider him an industry hero," the top manager is sure. The ex-head of the exchange was also a "good boss", helping colleagues in difficult situations.
"His commitment to transparency and honesty often conflicted with the overbearing expectations of a small group of employees accustomed to an elitist corporate environment. This led to the fact that some of them indignantly left the company and made false accusations in the media," said He.
Mistakes
In order to allow Binance to continue working, CZ decided to fly to the United States and plead guilty, the co-founder of the exchange stressed.
"Choosing between personal interests and the interests of society, Zhao has always preferred to sacrifice himself," she added.
Hae called herself CZ's "life companion." According to her, he leads a simple lifestyle: he buys inexpensive clothes on Amazon, rides a scooter to meetings and drives a six-seater Toyota van.
According to the top manager, Zhao's main mistake was "ignorance":
"Since it was a startup without specialists, the founding team members had no legal education, and most of the first executives, with the exception of CZ, could not even read English."
With little experience and legal knowledge, the founder of the exchange won the favor of users with "honesty, integrity and a sense of responsibility for the industry," although he made mistakes, He believes.
At the end of the letter, she urged the judge to make a fair decision by reviewing more complete information about the case and Zhao.
Recall that prosecutors demanded 36 months in prison for the ex-CEO of Binance for violating anti-money laundering laws. As much as possible, it was about a 10-year term.
Zhao himself apologized for the "bad decisions" and took "full responsibility" for his actions in a note to the court.
The meeting, at which a preventive measure will be chosen for the founder of the exchange, will be held on April 30.
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