Post-prison CZ says time behind bars didn’t hurt the billionaire’s business after Binance

The pardoned ex-CEO called prison a character-building "plus" as he's pursued a venture-capital career, despite his majority stake in the world's biggest crypto exchange.

Melinda 17 hours ago 3 minutes read

Policy

Post-prison CZ says time behind bars didn’t hurt the billionaire’s business after Binance

The pardoned ex-CEO called prison a character-building “plus” as he’s pursued a venture-capital career, despite his majority stake in the world’s biggest crypto exchange.

By Jesse Hamilton|Edited by Nikhilesh De

Jun 25, 2026, 1:00 p.m.

6 min read

Make preferred on

Share this article

Make preferred on

Former Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao (CoinDesk) — Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is trying to move on from his prison-and-pardon era into a post-Binance career. (CoinDesk)

Summary

Explaining his prison sentence hasn’t been a business challenge for Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, he said in a CoinDesk interview, because people seem to understand that the Trump-pardoned former CEO wasn’t involved in fraud.
The billionaire said he learned from his earlier ignorance about U.S. compliance, though he said he has no plans to be a CEO at the moment and is instead focused on advising firms he’s investing in.

Latest Crypto News

1
Uniswap, Spark aim to build stablecoin FX market as banks, fintechs enter the industry

1 minute ago
2
Circle and Nomura join forces to target a $440 billion daily foreign exchange market in Japan

32 minutes ago
3
Bitcoin derivatives signal panic. A weak core PCE reading could trigger snapback.

1 hour ago
4
CoinEx denies claims it served as $3.84 billion gateway to sanctioned Iranian crypto firms

2 hours ago
5
Crypto relief rally fails to shake persistent bearish derivatives signal

2 hours ago
6
Bitcoin supply in loss reaches record high 10.83 million BTC

2 hours ago
7
Micron delivers blowout earnings, surges 16% and deals crypto bulls a blow

2 hours ago
8
Forget max pain theory. Bitcoin is well below the $72,000 magnet going into $10 billion options expiry

5 hours ago
9
Live markets: Bitcoin holds above $61,000 as U.S. PCE inflation comes in as expected

7 hours ago
10
MemeCore’s M token suddenly crashes 80% with no clear trigger

7 hours ago

Latest Research

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

By CoinDesk Research

Jun 15, 2026

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

Why it matters:

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

View Full Report