Binance founder CZ is the latest crypto character to go to jail | TechCrunch Minute

Four four months four months in jail for Binance founder to penao in the United States along with a $50 million fine now CZ as he's known can well afford the Fine according to reports of his wealth But his upcoming time in the clink is Impossible to get around it also marks The second crypto exchange founder in The last year to get jail time of course We are recording this in the wake of FTX Founder Sam bankman Freed's own time in The do now we all know why SPF got the Book thrown at him but why is CZ and Binance in trouble well I read the Sentenc memo about this case and it said And I quote CZ and binance specifically Targeted us users as part of binance's Growth strategy knew that this Choice Subjected binance to us laws but for Years deliberately ran the company in Violation of US law that's going to get You in trouble I presume about 100% of The time especially when some of the Government's concerns concern money Laundering and the scale of money that Was laundered through binance is pretty Much insane the same memo said that Binance quote caused at least 1.1 Million transactions in violation of us Sanctions between customers in the US And customers ordinarily resident in Iran and those transactions were worth Just under $900 million lots of Transactions lots of money with the

Wrong country country you're going to be In trouble even more the same doc says That CZ quote admitted breaking the US Law was critical to the company's Success and profitability whoops that's Just never going to be popular with Regulators but oddly enough binance Still is according to data from the Block the world's most popular Centralized crypto exchange binance is Still larger than coinbase despite Everything we just went over so the Market is thinking one thing the Government another what should we think About the binance mess well on one hand The sentencing memo makes it pretty darn Clear that binance was not operating the Sort of company that Financial Regulators and governments Embrace but Presumably now the binance has gone Through the ringer it will be a cleaner And better run or today than it was in The past and that plus the still ongoing Cleanup at IL FX could be a big moment That allows crypto to turn over a new Leaf some folks view crypto as a silly Get-rich quick Gambit others View Blockchain James as the future of the Internet and Computing itself andreon Horowitz has written about this Something that I covered back in 2023 And the quote from that time that really Stuck with me is the idea that the firm Wrote that and I quote crypto isn't just

A new Financial system it's a new Computing platform that's very Encouraging and relatively a sunny Perspective so sure meme coins are still Popping off left and right lately but There's also a ray of hope that as some Of the big offenders and offenses get Tidied up inside of crypto there will be More room for Tech to shine and gambling To retreat to where it belongs on the Smartphone of every young man at all Times so they can gamble on football I'll see you tomorrow