Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has become the latest in a long line of crypto founders facing potentially significant legal consequences, Bloomberg News reported. The founder of Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest crypto exchange, resigned from his post as CEO as part of a settlement agreement with U.S. prosecutors that includes the possibility of jail time. That makes him the newest member of a club that includes Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, Alex Mashinsky of Celsius, and Do Kwon of Terraform Labs. Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, developed a reputation for being a canny operator, a fierce competitor, and someone prone to saying things like “I don’t really care much about money” while amassing a fortune measured in the billions. Zhao’s resignation and his near-simultaneous replacement by Richard Teng, who built his reputation not in crypto but at Singapore’s central bank, is emblematic of the kind of shift in approach being pushed by regulators around the world. The landscape for digital assets appears to be shifting away from the “wild west” of crypto populated by risk-loving cowboys who seek forgiveness instead of permission, who publicly spar with the liquidators attempting to recover assets for their creditors, or who use stolen billions to lobby for policy changes.
