CZ Has Left Binance, SBF Is in Jail. Crypto Is About to Get Boring

The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal charges in the US, releasing a wave of pent-up tension that had hung over the crypto industry for years.

Zhao, who also went by CZ, was one of the poster boys for crypto’s freewheeling and rebellious spirit, which hearkens back to the origins of the technology, built to undergird a parallel financial system outside the control of any government or bank. Under his leadership, Binance grew to become by far the world’s largest crypto exchange, but frequently clashed with regulators in the US and elsewhere. The company refused to establish a formal headquarters. According to the criminal indictment filed against Zhao in the US, he “prioritized growth and profits over compliance” and sought to take advantage of what he described as the “gray zone.” Zhao instructed employees that it was “better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” the indictment states.