Ki Young Ju, CEO of blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant, has voiced strong support for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) as his detention nears its end. The former Binance CEO and crypto influencer is currently serving a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in November 2023.
Zhao admitted that he failed to prevent money laundering on Binance, resulting in a $4.3 billion civil fine for the crypto exchange and a $50 million fine for the Chinese businessman, in addition to his prison sentence that began in June 2024.
CZ’s Performance Outweighs Mistakes — CryptoQuant CEO
With Changpeng Zhao coming out on September 29, Young Ju has come out to take on the former Binance boss.
Young Ju acknowledges that while CZ has made some mistakes, his contributions to the crypto ecosystem far outweigh these mistakes. The CryptoQuant founder highlights the existence of Binance, which he says is primarily responsible for the massive liquidity seen in the crypto space.
Ki Young Ju further argues that CZ should be treated as a respected businessman whose imprisonment represents parts of the pain and struggles of a nascent crypto industry. The CryptoQuant Boss describes CZ’s travails as part of a broader societal trend to blame influential figures when an industry fails to grow as expected.
He explains that the crypto industry has absorbed significant capital since its inception, but its intrinsic value has not been matched due to crimes such as hacks, fraud, etc. Therefore, the industry is seen as one with many “sins” for which CZ, as a key figure, now bears a large part of the blame.
What is the future for CZ?
After his release from Lompoc II Correctional Center next week, Changpeng Zhao is expected to remain a board member of Binance. However, he will be banned from participating in the exchange’s day-to-day operations as part of his plea agreement with the U.S. government.
It’s worth noting that CZ will still have a lot of influence over Binance as a shareholder in the company, which includes the ability to nominate new board members and top executive positions. Additionally, Bitcoinist reports that some lawyers argue that CZ’s settlement agreement does not permanently prevent him from accepting a management position at the exchange. However, the crypto key figure has no plans to return to the Binance leadership, having expressed interest in blockchain, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
At the time of writing, the crypto market is still worth $2.146 trillion with a decline of 1.08% in the past day. Meanwhile, the leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is at $62,840 with a market dominance of 53.18%.
Main image from Forbes, chart from Tradingview