So does crime pay? It depends who you ask I guess.
The Founder & CEO of Biance, Changpeng Zhao otherwise known online as CZ, plead guilty to money laundering violations in the United States, and agreed to pay a $50 million dollar fine while his company Biance agreed to pay a $4.3 Billion with a capital B fine for not having proper compliance controls.
Changpeng Zhao is scheduled to be sentenced for his crimes on February 23, and faces up to a decade in prison, but since this is a White Collar crime and he’s due to his plea deal he’s expected to get no more than 18 months in jail.
Despite all of this CZ has still managed to make mad loot in 2023!
CZ’s wealth skyrocketed this last year by an estimated $25 billion in 2023 He’s not estimated to have a net worth of $37 billion
Why you might ask?
One word: Bitcoin
The price of Bitcoin rebounded in 2023 by more than 160% following the Crypto Winter we went through in 2022. CZ is just one of a handful of crypto billionaires who saw their fortunes rise in 2023 thanks in large part of the increase in price of Bitcoin, including Brian Armstrong who’s the CEO of Coinbase, and the twin Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler of the Facebook drama that was portrayed in the popular 2010 movie The Social Network.
Now we’re on the verge of the very 1st Bitcoin ETF being approved in the United States by the SEC, there are some estimates that the price of 1 Bitcoin, referred to as BTC, could skyrocket to between $100,000 – $500,000 in 2024.
I imagine that kind of an increase in his net worth will make CZ’s stay in prison a little easier to handle.
Ousted Binance Founder CZ’s Fortune Grew by $25 Billion in 2023