SpecialsSession.
SESSION / Special / 02Before CZ

Changpeng Zhao · Co-founder of Binance

From code
to power.

Born in China in 1977. Canada, computer science at McGill, then trading software. The starting point is code, before Binance.

Changpeng Zhao, Vietnam NFT Summit, 2022
Archive photo · Vietnam NFT Summit, 2022
The source ↗04 / 06 / 2022
SESSION / Special / 022017

Binance
begins.

In 2017 he co-founded Binance with Yi He. An exchange platform, not a sovereign coin.

Launch year
2017
07 / 2017BINANCE
Yi HeCo-founder

2017 · an exchange platform, not a sovereign coin.

The source ↗07 / 2017
SESSION / Special / 02Scale

Centre of
the trade.

In November 2023 the US Department of Justice described Binance as the world’s largest crypto exchange. Decentralisation and giant intermediaries remain two different scales.

US Department of Justice, 21 November 2023
DOJ · 21 / 11 / 2023the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world
United States v. Changpeng Zhao↓

Prosecutors called Binance the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. That is a fact of the case, not a SESSION market ranking.

English original · three points from the DOJ release

The source ↗21 / 11 / 2023
SESSION / Special / 02The fact

Scale
is not immunity.

On 21 November 2023 Zhao pleaded guilty to an AML programme failure. The company resolved separately, for more than $4.3 billion. Personal liability is not corporate liability.

$50m

Zhao pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act violation: causing Binance to fail to implement an effective anti-money-laundering programme. Personal criminal fine: $50 million. He agreed to step down as CEO.

21 November 2023 · two pleas, two bills.

The source ↗21 / 11 / 2023
SESSION / Special / 02The handover

Founder,
no longer CEO.

He stepped down as CEO in November 2023. Richard Teng took over. On 30 April 2024, in Seattle, he was sentenced to four months.

New CEORichard Teng
Prison term4 months

Resignation and appointment: 21 November 2023. Sentence: 30 April 2024, Western District of Washington.

The source ↗30 / 04 / 2024
SESSION / Special / 02After

Out of prison.
What next?

Released from US custody on 27 September 2024. The same year he announced Giggle Academy, a free education project. That is the next documented chapter, not a claim about September 2026.

Changpeng Zhao, 2022Archive photo · Vietnam NFT Summit, 2022
  1. 01
    Release

    27 September 2024, US federal custody

  2. 02
    The project

    Giggle Academy: basic education, announced in public. No measure of scale here.

  3. 03
    The role

    Founder is no longer operator: the plea required him to resign as CEO.

The scale is public. So is the plea.

The source ↗27 / 09 / 2024
SESSION / CHANGPENG ZHAO
Inside the story

Founder, exchange, and the American case

The plates keep the facts short. This is the longer reading: what was charged, what was paid, and which biographies must stay apart.

Three facts, not one life

Changpeng Zhao co-founded Binance in 2017 with Yi He. He later ran it as chief executive. On 21 November 2023 he pleaded guilty in the United States to causing Binance to fail to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering programme. Those are three facts. They share a person; they are not the same biography.

SESSION keeps the founder, the manager and the defendant on separate lines because the filings do. A portrait that mixed them would be easier to read and less true.

From code to an exchange

Zhao was born in China in 1977, studied computer science at McGill in Canada, and worked on trading software before Binance. The origin is code. Binance, launched in 2017, is an exchange: a venue that matches buyers and sellers of crypto assets. It is not a sovereign currency, and this special does not treat it as one.

Binance’s public about page still describes a crypto-asset platform. SESSION does not turn that corporate line into a market ranking of its own.

Scale is not immunity

In the Justice Department statement of 21 November 2023, prosecutors called Binance the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. That sentence belongs to the case file. It is not a SESSION league table, and it is not a live market share print.

The same statement said the company had put growth, market share and profits ahead of US law. Scale explains why the case mattered to prosecutors. It does not cancel the charge, and it does not merge the company’s plea with Zhao’s.

Two pleas, two ledgers

Zhao pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act violation: causing Binance not to have an effective AML programme. The personal fine was $50 million. He agreed to leave the role of CEO. Those numbers sit on the personal side of the page.

Binance Holdings Limited resolved a separate case. The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion and admitted, among other things, operating as an unlicensed money transmitter and violating US sanctions (IEEPA). Reuters reported both tracks on 21 November 2023. One week, two ledgers.

Founder, not CEO

The same day as the pleas, Zhao said Richard Teng would become CEO. Reuters recorded the succession. On 30 April 2024, in Seattle, in the Western District of Washington, Zhao was sentenced to four months. The title change is the company’s. The sentence is the court’s.

Neither fact is a comment on Binance’s later commercial position, and neither is a forecast. Founder is not the same office as chief executive. The plea asked for the resignation; the court later fixed a term of imprisonment.

After prison — and the limit of this page

Reuters reported that Zhao was released from US federal custody on 27 September 2024. In the same year he announced Giggle Academy, a free basic-education project. giggleacademy.com is the public site. SESSION records the announcement; it does not measure the school.

This special stops at the documented chapter. It does not describe Zhao’s legal or corporate status in September 2026. It does not treat later relief, a user count, or a market call as facts on this page. The plates stay short. The sources sit below.

Sources and photograph

  1. Reuters · Zhao pleads guilty and steps down, 21 November 2023 ↗
  2. Binance · About ↗
  3. US Department of Justice · Binance and CEO plead guilty, 21 November 2023 ↗
  4. Reuters · Richard Teng to become CEO, 21 November 2023 ↗
  5. Reuters · Four-month sentence, WDWA Seattle, 30 April 2024 ↗
  6. Reuters · Released from US custody, 27 September 2024 ↗
  7. Giggle Academy ↗

Photograph: Aevozer, Vietnam NFT Summit, 4 June 2022. File Changpeng Zhao in 2022.jpg, derived from CZ at Vietnam NFT Summit.jpg. Crop and greyscale on the page. Licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

September 8, 2026 · SESSION