According to Qianzhan on December 27, recently, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index was updated, and after the collapse of Bitcoin in 2022, it will increase by 160% in 2023, which makes many billionaires in the cryptocurrency industry make a lot of money this year.
According to statistics, Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has become the richest person in the cryptocurrency industry who is expected to have a soaring net worth in 2023, and his net worth is currently estimated to exceed $37 billion (about 2,637. at the current exchange rate).500 million RMB). Since the beginning of this year, Changpeng Zhao's wealth has increased by 25 billion US dollars (about 178.2 billion yuan), and this part of the wealth mainly comes from his controlling stake in Binance.
In addition, Changpeng Zhao actually holds some bitcoin and bnb, but these assets are not counted in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Although Changpeng Zhao's worth has skyrocketed this year, compared with his peak worth of nearly 97 billion US dollars (about 691.5 billion yuan) at the beginning of 2022, Changpeng Zhao's worth has been cut in half in the past two years.
It is worth mentioning that in November this year, Changpeng Zhao appeared in the federal court in Seattle and pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, and paid a fine of $50 million at that time. After pleading guilty, Changpeng Zhao paid another 1$7.5 billion bail, the U.S. federal government allowed Changpeng Zhao to return to the UAE while on bail.
Not only that, Changpeng Zhao also reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice at the cost of paying 43A settlement of US$6.6 billion (about 31.2 billion yuan).
On December 18, the U.S. Commodity Exchange Commission announced the implementation of 28$500 million penalty.
Before and after, Changpeng Zhao paid a total of 72US$1.6 billion (about 51.5 billion yuan) at a cost.
In fact, the United States has been looking for Changpeng Zhao for many years, but the United States has found him. Since Changpeng Zhao currently has dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and Canada, and there is no extradition treaty between the UAE and the United States, and Changpeng Zhao still thinks he is a billionaire, so if he chooses to return to the United Arab Emirates, in fact, the United States ** has no way to ensure that he can return to the United States.
Changpeng Zhao knew that he would not be in danger if he hid in the UAE, but why did he still return to the United States to plead guilty and pay the fine?
According to a financial report by Phoenix.com, an industry insider said in an interview with Phoenix.com's "Eye of the Storm" that Changpeng Zhao may want to show the sincerity of himself and Binance to the United States in this way, that is, to assume corresponding responsibilities and improve compliance measures in the future.
But the reality is that an invisible net is quietly tightening, and Changpeng Zhao, who is currently in the gray area, has no way back.
In 2017, China issued the "Announcement on Preventing the Risk of Token Issuance and Financing", requiring the relevant trading platforms to be closed immediately. After this, Changpeng Zhao immediately left Shanghai and went to Japan. But what Zhao Changpeng didn't expect was that Japan** also quickly issued a warning to Zhao Changpeng on the grounds that Binance was not registered in Japan, and Zhao Changpeng was issued an expulsion order by Japan.
Later, Changpeng Zhao targeted Malta, because Malta is friendly to cryptocurrency, and in 2016, Maltese Prime Minister Muscat also proposed to build Europe into a virtual currency center at the regular meeting of the European Commission, and Muscat also claimed to welcome Binance to Malta.
As a result, Changpeng Zhao announced in March 2018 that he would set up his headquarters in Malta. But intriguingly, in 2020 Malta said that Binance was not under its jurisdiction. So, Changpeng Zhao left Malta again.
Later, Changpeng Zhao went to the United Kingdom and began to eat and drink with British *** and legislators, trying to persuade them to accept Binance. However, the British are not buying it, and the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom has made it clear that Binance does not have a headquarters and operates too widely to regulate it.
After hitting a wall everywhere, Changpeng Zhao directly said that Binance no longer has a headquarters office location, and no matter where he sits, it is Binance's office.
In this way, Changpeng Zhao seems to have evaporated from the world, and even the "world policeman" United States cannot find Changpeng Zhao.
Why is Changpeng Zhao now willing to take the initiative to show up in the United States and pay the fine?This is because this bigwig in the currency industry has finally understood a truth, or he has actually been avoiding a problem before, that is, he does not have a legal identity to engage in Binance. And the United States, perhaps, can give him such an opportunity.
IPG Chief Economist Bai Wen said that due to the uncertainty of regulatory policies, the development of the cryptocurrency industry will face more challenges. From a long-term perspective, compliance development is still a major trend.
However, will the cunning United States really let Changpeng Zhao get what he wants?