Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, or “CZ,” was sentenced earlier this yr to 4 months in jail for permitting rampant cash laundering on the world’s largest cryptocurrency alternate.
In November 2023, Binance and then-CEO Zhao pleaded responsible to cash laundering fees for permitting prospects in different nations to transact in violation of US sanctions. As a part of the settlement, the firm agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines, and Zhao agreed to pay a nice of $50 million and step down from his publish.
Richard Teng, Binance’s regional director markets head and a former Abu Dhabi regulator, has since taken over as CEO. He’s making some main adjustments within the agency, like looking for a headquarters location, which counters Binance’s one-time stance {that a} decentralized agency doesn’t want an workplace. The crypto alternate is perhaps signaling to authorities that it’s rebuilding itself after Zhao’s departure.
Do Kwon
Crypto firm Terraform Labs’ co-founder Do Kwon was as soon as a king of the crypto world, however now he’s awaiting extradition to the U.S. or South Korea, the place he may face fees.
Terraform Labs collapsed in 2022, which had a big impression on the cryptocurrency world. Terraform’s stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), was tied to the cryptocurrency Terra (LUNA), which implies $1 UST was all the time price $1 USD of Luna. Nevertheless, in Could 2022, the worth of LUNA plummeted from over $120 per coin to just about zero, leading to a lack of over $50 billion in UST/LUNA market capitalization and triggering a crash that wiped $400 billion in worth from the broader crypto market.
The SEC filed a case in opposition to Terraform and Kwon relating to the misleading promotion and sale of crypto tokens, notably the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST).
Kwon was arrested in March 2023 for forging journey paperwork whereas making an attempt to go away the southern European nation Montenegro. Earlier this yr, he agreed to pay $4.47 billion to settle a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee.