Changpen Zhao, the former head of Binance took to social media just seven hours after being released from prison, posting on the X platform that he valued simple luxuries like food and fruit.
While he was calm and grateful, he hinted that he wouldn’t answer any questions right away, saying, “Let me relax a bit.” Zhao shared his plans to continue investing in blockchain, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, charity and education, specifically through his Giggle Academy.
His jail sentence followed his guilty plea in April to charges related to Binance money laundering.
The U.S. Department of Justice investigation revealed that Binance processed over 100,000 suspicious transactions without proper oversight, enabling illegal activities such as terrorism and child exploitation.
CZ was sentenced to four months in a low-security prison in California and was personally fined $50 million, while Binance was fined $4.3 billion. Although he stepped down as CEO in November 2023, Zhao still holds a 90% stake in Binance despite being banned from playing any active role in its operations.
The first week of July brings several important developments in the United States that could influence both traditional markets and the cryptocurrency sector.
Ric Edelman, one of the most influential voices in personal finance, has radically revised his stance on crypto allocation. After years of cautious optimism, he now believes that digital assets deserve a far larger share in investment portfolios than ever before.
In the case involving Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Hyeong Kwon, the defense has asked the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York to extend the deadline for pretrial filings by two weeks, pushing it beyond the original date of July 1, 2025.
Coinbase has emerged as the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 for June, climbing 43% amid a surge of bullish momentum driven by regulatory clarity, product innovation, and deeper institutional interest in crypto.