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☆ From 25 years in prison to just four months: Inside the final verdict on a crypto billionaire CEO archrivalry
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

Combination showing Former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (L) and Zhao Changpeng (R), founder and chief executive officer of Binance. A month earlier, on the opposite coast in downtown Manhattan, FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison sentence for his crimes. At the beginning of his trial, SBF sported a fresh haircut and wore suits, but by its end, his curls were wild again. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks at a Binance fifth anniversary event in Paris, France, July 8, 2022. watch nowMoney makes all the differenceUnlike SBF, CZ didn't have his wealth wiped out by bankruptcy of the crypto company he founded.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Zhao Changpeng, Mike Segar, Benjamin Girette, Changpeng Zhao, FTX's Sam Bankman, Fried, Zhao, Binance's Zhao, FTX's, Toyotas, Braden Perry, Perry, Manfred, SBF, Michael Lewis, Lewis, Sam didn't, Amr Alfiky, Sam, Caroline Ellison, —, Zhao's, Yi He, Binance, David Ryder, Yang, Rachel Zhao, Yesha Yadav, Yadav, Mark Bini, Lewis Kaplan, Bankman, Kaplan, perjured, Neama Rahmani, Rahmani, Tre Lovell, Zhao hasn't, Lovell, weren't, FTX Organizations: Reuters, Bloomberg, Getty, Department of Justice, CFTC, Stanford University's, Bankman, CZ, Staff, Reuters Prosecutors, Alameda Research, Vanderbilt University, Wall Street, CNBC, FTX, Emergency Economic, Justice Department, DOJ Locations: Seattle, Manhattan, California, Hong Kong, Bahamas, Palo Alto, U.S, New York City, Alameda, Seattle , Washington, Paris, France, Angeles, Binance, Dubai, Delaware

☆ US prosecutors want Binance's Zhao to remain in US until sentencing -filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors pressed a federal judge on Wednesday to require Binance Holdings founder and former chief Changpeng Zhao to remain in the continental United States before his sentencing hearing on Feb. 23, 2024, according to a court filing. The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday urged the judge to require Zhao to stay in the United States and prevent him from returning to the United Arab Emirates before his sentencing. Zhao pleaded guilty on Tuesday to violating U.S. laws to prevent money laundering. Previously, a DOJ spoksperson told Reuters that Zhao was currently expected to stay in the Seattle area until Monday evening, but after that would be allowed to return to his residency in the UAE. Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, DOJ spoksperson, Chris Prentice, Leslie Adler Organizations: U.S, Binance Holdings, U.S . Justice Department, Wednesday, United, United Arab Emirates, DOJ, Reuters, Thomson Locations: United States, United Arab, Seattle, UAE

☆ Binance's Zhao says Richard Teng to become next CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Boards category · November 21, 2023Following a surprise ouster, OpenAI co-founder and former CEO Sam Altman joined Microsoft as the head of artificial intelligence research along with the ChatGPT maker's former President Greg Brockman and other staff.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman Organizations: Microsoft

☆ Here's what the SEC's 'all-out assault' on crypto means for the market's 2 biggest players
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"If this goes poorly, it could be an existential issue for Coinbase," Jeff Blockinger, chief counsel at decentralized finance platform Vertex Protocol, told Insider. Sources told Insider they expect Coinbase to fight extremely hard against the suit, which essentially says its whole US operation is illegal. "This is an all-out assault, particularly in regards to Binance, but it is a broader assault on the industry. A deal just means 'the casino can stay open'From Smith's point of view, the real existential matter isn't the SEC's lawsuit but rather the nature of the market itself. "If the SEC and Coinbase cut some sort of deal, that just means the casino can stay open."

Persons: —, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao —, Binance, Zhao, Jeff Blockinger, it's, Brian Armstrong, he's, Coinbase, Gensler, Sam Bankman, Richard Smith, Ron Geffner, Goldberg, Geffner, There's, Smith Organizations: Coinbase, Service, Securities, Exchange Commission, Binance, SEC, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Bloomberg, The Foundation Locations: Cayman Islands, Alameda, SEC's

☆ The SEC is suing Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for violating securities regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The SEC is suing Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao. The SEC alleged that Binance diverted customers' funds to a trading firm called Sigma Chain that was under Zhao's control. The regulator also said Sigma Chain conducted fraudulent trades to artificially inflate Binance's volume. In February, the Journal reported the SEC was looking into the relationship between the US arm of Binance and two trading firms with ties to Zhao. One area of the investigation's focus was how Binance.US disclosed to customers its links to the trading firms, the report said.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, —, Binance's Zhao Organizations: SEC, WSJ, Service, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Monday, Street Journal, Sigma, Sigma Chain, District of Columbia, Commodities Futures, Trading Commission, Palestinian, Justice Department, Washington Post, Western, of, Reuters Locations: District, Binance.US, Russian, of Washington, Seattle

☆ Bitcoin and Ether are down 3% after CFTC sued Binance and its CEO over US regulatory violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cryptocurrencies are trading lower after CFTC sued major exchange Binance for regulatory violations. Bitcoin and Ether are trading around $27,000 and $1,700 respectively, about 3% lower over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin and Ether prices are around $27,000 and $1,700 per token respectively, per CoinMarketCap data. The US regulator said in a complaint filed in a Chicago federal court Monday that Binance breached eight provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC said Binance "lucrative and commercially important 'VIP'" customers, including institutional customers in the US while disregarding registration and regulatory requirements under the US law.

☆ Binance CEO says deposits are 'coming back in' but sees 'bumpy' road ahead for the crypto firm
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

His comments come after Binance temporarily halted withdrawals of the USDC stablecoin on Tuesday, while it carried out a "token swap." The episode left investors on edge, particularly after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and subsequent arrest of its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is facing federal criminal charges. Blockchain analytics firm Nansen said on Tuesday that there have been more than $3 billion of net withdrawals from Binance over the last seven days. But the Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik said the situation is different to FTX, which saw withdrawals to the "tune of multi-billion dollars." Svanevik noted that Binance has around $60 billion worth of assets on its exchange, of which the withdrawals represent a small proportion.

☆ Binance's Zhao flags possible $1 billion for distressed assets- Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 24 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is aiming for a roughly $1 billion fund for the potential purchase of distressed assets in the digital sector, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing an interview with Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao. Zhao hinted at the possibility of allocating more funds in the interview. read moreHe said such a fund would help "reduce further cascading negative effects of FTX" without giving an exact figure for the fund. The crypto market is teetering after the collapse of FTX, which is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. Several crypto firms have been bracing for the fallout from the FTX collapse, with many counting their exposure to the exchange in millions.

☆ A top exec at OKX explains his call with Sam Bankman-Fried as FTX scrambled for a rescue - and why he couldn't give him a billion-dollar lifeline
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In an interview with Insider, the director of financial markets for OKX recounted two phone calls he had with Sam Bankman-Fried before FTX collapsed. Bankman-Fried initially asked for $1 billion to $2 billion from OKX, but called back hours later asking for more. The exec advised Bankman-Fried to consult the CEO of Binance regarding the liquidity of FTX's native token, FTT. To save FTX, Bankman-Fried sought emergency capital from rival crypto exchanges, including OKX, which says it's the second-largest crypto exchange by spot trading volume. In an optimal scenario, OKX would've created a strategic partnership with FTX, Lai explained, since it strengthens the industry if big players could support one another.

FTX token - which gives holders discounts on FTX trading fees - was last trading at $5.33, having slumped by more than three-quarters. Tuesday's developments left FTX investors scrambling to figure out what the deal with Binance means for their investment in FTX, according to people familiar with the matter. In late 2019, Binance invested in FTX, then a far smaller exchange, before exiting the investment in July last year. By then FTX had mushroomed into a growing rival to Binance, which dominates the crypto industry with over 120 million users. "A *huge* thank you to CZ, Binance," Bankman-Fried wrote.

Binance is backing out of its plans to acquire FTX, the company said Wednesday, leaving Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire on the verge of collapse. It is unclear who is next in line to buy the beleaguered crypto exchange. The failed acquisition of the world's fourth-largest exchange is the latest chapter in a shocking collapse that's rocked the crypto world. He also deleted tweets from the prior day indicating that FTX was "fine" and that the exchange had enough assets to cover clients' holdings. Earlier on Wednesday, Zhao told Binance employees in a memo that he "did not master plan" the collapse of FTX.

☆ Retail investors are rushing in to buy the dip in crypto-linked stocks after FTX drama sparks big sell-off in digital assets
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Retail investors have been snapping up crypto-linked stocks and ETFs during the latest plunge sparked by FTX's collapse. Net purchases of the long-positioned ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF and the ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF jumped on Tuesday. "Retail are buying the dip again," the firm said about shares of crypto-linked companies and exchange-traded funds in a note published Wednesday. He said net purchases by retail investors of the long-positioned ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF and the ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF jumped by a similar magnitude on Tuesday, by $1.4 million and US$1.1 million, respectively. Among shares of cryptocurrency companies active among retail investors, crypto trading platform Coinbase fell 8.5%, Robinhood slid nearly 10%, and Block lost more than 7%.

loadingHe said Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, will conduct due diligence in the coming days as the next step toward an acquisition of FTX.com. By then FTX had mushroomed into a growing rival to Binance, which dominates the crypto industry with over 120 million users. FTX token - which gives holders discounts on FTX trading fees - was last trading at $5.33, having slumped by more than three-quarters. On Sunday, Zhao said his firm would liquidate its holdings of the FTX token due to unspecified "recent revelations." "A *huge* thank you to CZ, Binance," Bankman-Fried wrote.

☆ Binance offers to buy FTX's non-U.S. operations to fix 'liquidity crunch'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency firm, has reached a deal with Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX to buy the rival crypto exchange for an undisclosed amount, rescuing the company from a liquidity crisis. The deal, according to Tweets from both Zhao and Bankman-Fried, rests on a non-binding letter of intent, pending full due diligence. A major sell-off began Monday evening amid concerns surrounding the solvency of both FTX and its sister trading firm, Alameda Research. Zhao said in his tweet that Binance has about $2.1 billion worth of FTT and BUSD, the fiat-backed stablecoin issued by Binance and Paxos, combined. The revelation also sparked concern about Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's trading firm and sister company to FTX.

☆ Inside BlackRock's long journey toward crypto adoption
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

BlackRock's crypto quest. The culmination, and perhaps biggest step, in BlackRock's crypto journey came this summer, when it announced a partnership with Coinbase. Insider's Rebecca Ungarino and Morgan Chittum mapped out Blackrock's long journey toward crypto acceptance, which essentially dates back to an initial memo in 2015. Which is why mapping out BlackRock's journey is so interesting, Rebecca told me. Industry insiders detail a difficult week for the tech industry that saw thousands lose their jobs.

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