And Then There Were None.
With CZ facing criminal charges, most "crypto" CEOs marred by controversy in 2022 are now facing prison.
Dear readers,
First, it was Celsius’ eccentric CEO, Alex Mashinsky, arrested on charges of fraud for his exchange’s practices and offering an unregistered security. Then fell Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested and imprisoned on similar charges, making for one of the most ironic last-name-and-prison-sentence combos in history. Both face several hundred years in prison if found guilty.
Changpeng Zhao, or CZ for short, was the last man standing.
The Binance CEO engaged in the same shady practices, such as wash trading and misappropriation of customer funds. We reported on these backroom practices several times here at The Bitcoin Layer, but he simply had yet to be charged.
At long last, his sentencing came in the wake of a brush-clearing campaign by the SEC as it rids the system of as much fraud as it could prior to approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF. Rampant fraud was one of regulators’ last stated reservations before mass spot BTC ETF approvals could commence.
It is cosmically perfect that just over a year on from his speculative attack which sunk FTX, CZ now faces criminal proceedings of his own.
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These charges shocked many in the crypto world who still viewed Binance and its former CEO CZ as the proverbial adults in the room. We, on the other hand, were only surprised it took this long to prosecute him.