Binance Founder CZ Released From US Custody After Serving 4-Month Sentence

September 28, 2024 Bitcoin.com

Binance founder CZ’s fortune gets slashed $12B, while SBF is still at $0

October 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance founder CZ’s fortune gets slashed B, while SBF is still at alt=

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s crypto empire has fallen over 80% from its January 2022 peak of almost $97 billion.

Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has seen his net worth slashed by $11.9 billion amid falling trading volumes at his exchange.

On Oct. 26, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index cut Binance’s revenue estimates by 38% amid a slump in exchange volumes which knocked Zhao down to 95th place on the rich list.

Zhao’s net worth is now a paltry $17.3 billion, registering an 82% drop from its $96.9 billion peak in January 2022, where he was ranked 11th among the world's richest people.

*Zhao’s net worth peaked at $96.9 billion in early 2022 before dropping alongside the crypto market. Source: Bloomberg*

Bloomberg’s index calculated Binance’s revenues from spot and derivatives trading data from crypto data aggregators CoinGecko and Coinpaprika.

As of September, the exchange’s spot trading market share had fallen for seven consecutive months to 34.3%. In January, Binance’s spot market share was over 55%.

Binance.US, its United States-based arm, also saw volumes touch new lows last month.

Zhao’s plummeting net worth and Binance’s fading trading volumes follow twin suits from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The SEC sued Zhao, Binance and Binance.US in June claiming the exchanges operated illegally, sold unregistered securities and mishandled customer assets with Zhao named as their “controlling person.”

The CFTC’s suit months earlier in March claimed Binance did not properly register with the regulator. Zhao and Binance reject both regulators’ allegations and seek to dismiss both lawsuits.

The recent fall pales compared to CZ’s once-crypto-rival Sam Bankman-Fried, who saw his $16 billion fortune effectively wiped out in November 2022 after FTX disclosed its liquidity crisis just days before it filed for bankruptcy.

Some believe the crisis was kicked off by a tweet from CZ when he announced that Binance was selling its FTX Token (FTT) holdings, triggering a mass of withdrawals from FTX. Zhao initially moved to buy the embattled exchange but pulled out less than 48 hours later.

Bankman-Fried took to the witness stand in his own criminal trial on Oct. 26, where he has previously pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy.

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SEC lawsuits squeeze net worths of Coinbase and Binance CEOs

June 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bloomberg Billionare Index

Brian Armstrong and CZ have seen respective net worth losses of 11.8% and 5.1% since the SEC sued Coinbase and Binance.

The net worths of Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have suffered heavy blows due to recent lawsuits by the United States securities regulator.

Armstrong’s net worth was slashed by $289 million and Zhao’s by $1.33 billion within a span of 30 hours after the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance on June 5 and then Coinbase on June 6, according to data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes.

Zhao — the richest man in the crypto industry and the 54th richest person overall — had his net worth fall 5.1% to $26 billion this week.

*The SEC’s lawsuit against Binance has contributed to Zhao falling two spots in Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. Source: Bloomberg*

While the Binance CEO’s net worth has rebounded by over 106% this year, he is still down over 73% from his highest net worth of $96.9 billion in January 2022.

*Zhao’s net worth has fallen from nearly $100 billion to $26 billion since January 2022. Source: Bloomberg*

Armstrong is ranked as the 1,409th richest person by Forbes and took the bigger hit from the SEC’s latest action with his net worth falling 11.8% to $2.2 billion.

*Change in net worth of Brian Armstrong since 2019. Source: Forbes*

The Coinbase CEO has managed to reap the rewards of a market rebound this year, with a 61% increase in net worth over that time.

Despite the recent fall, Zhao and Armstrong have seen net worth increases well above the 9% year-to-date returns for others on Bloomberg's rich list.

The SEC sued both Binance and Coinbase alleging the exchanges broke various securities rules, most notably for purportedly offering cryptocurrencies that the regulator considers to be unregistered securities.

Following the suites, a total of 67 cryptocurrencies have now been classed as securities by the SEC.

Binance and Coinbase have both confirmed they will “vigorously” defend the lawsuits laid against them.

Magazine: Crypto regulation: Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

Net Worth