Qiao Changpeng pleads guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws and agrees to resign as CEO of Binance
david rider
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Former Binance boss Qiao Changpeng, who will be sentenced in the United States later Tuesday on money laundering charges, has perfected the guise of a humble executive while at the helm of the world's largest cryptocurrency company.
He was rarely seen at parties, on stage or at meetings without wearing a black polo shirt emblazoned with his company's insignia and a tattoo of his company's logo on his arm.
It was crucial to perpetuate the myth that the boy, who had made a living flipping burgers in Canada after suffering in China, had yet to amass a fortune estimated to be in the tens of billions.
“I'm a small entrepreneur” and “an ordinary guy,” the man known in the crypto world as “CZ” told AFP in 2022, comparing himself to Elon Musk. . Elon Musk later bought Twitter (now X) Zhao and later backed it with $500 million.
But there was little in the way of Mr. Zhao's leadership at Binance, a company that nearly cornered the cryptocurrency trading market before the company faced numerous charges, including sanctions violations and illegal trading.
Chao, who founded Binance in Shanghai in 2017, has emerged as the most visible figure in the crypto world since his great rival Sam Bankman Freed was arrested in 2022 as the mastermind behind a massive pyramid scheme. did.
When his rival fell from grace, Mr. Zhao was there to twist the knife, suggesting he might buy FTX first before publicly exiting.
A year later, it was Zhao's turn to repent.
He pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws and agreed to step down as CEO of Binance, but authorities later announced the company would pay a $4.3 billion settlement.
These lawsuits painted a picture of Mr. Zhao as a ruthless executive pursuing growth at all costs.
It was a far cry from the vulgar legend he cultivated, which has become almost a myth in the crypto world.
Mr. Zhao's childhood in China was marred by hardships when his parents were sent to the countryside to experience the realities of peasantry. This was a common punishment for those suspected of harboring capitalist sympathies during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.
According to their own life accounts and a 2020 blog on Binance's website, the Chaos immigrated to Canada in the late 1980s and worked at McDonald's and gas stations to help support their family.
This instilled “drive, grit and self-motivation” in the young man, helping to create “cryptocurrency leaders,” the Binance blog said.
Chao's nomadic childhood influenced her adult life, appearing everywhere from New York to Tokyo.
Official legend has it that he caught the Bitcoin bug during a conversation around a poker table in Shanghai in 2013, and started using Binance in the Chinese city a few years later.
The Chinese government's crackdown on cryptocurrencies hastened his departure from China, and he began a voyage through various jurisdictions, establishing a number of complex corporate structures along the way.
He has long distanced himself from regulators, rejecting single jurisdiction over Binance's headquarters and repeatedly calling it a “complex issue.”
This stance has made him a popular figure among crypto purists who dislike any form of regulation.
But the smell of scandal finally became too strong for U.S. market regulators, who branded Binance's compliance system a “sham” and accused Zhao of orchestrating a “secret conspiracy” to help VIP customers evade the law. .
Then law enforcement came knocking.
Among other complaints, they accused Binance of failing to halt payments to the Islamic State militant group and other banned organizations in Iran and North Korea.
Unlike Bankman Freed, Mr. Chao quickly pleaded guilty and avoided a high-profile trial.
But prosecutors are asking a Seattle court to sentence Mr. Zhao to three years in prison.
In response to his troubles, Zhao returned to his normal personality.
In March, he launched a startup called Giggle Academy, which he said would aim to provide free education to underprivileged children around the world.
“Start mode again. Just like the good old days,” he wrote to X in early April, weeks before the verdict was handed down.
What subjects does he aim to teach? Blockchain, AI, Finance.
