Richard Teng, the CEO of Binance, expressed respect for Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the company's co-founder and former CEO, for taking responsibility for his mistakes and stepping away from Binance. Teng shared his statement during a June 17 episode of the Bankless podcast.
"CZ's principles, such as user protection and maintaining a user-first approach, are deeply embedded in Binance's culture," said Teng. "These continue to guide our decisions and operations. I respect CZ immensely, especially for his accountability. He took full responsibility for past mistakes and stepped down to ensure the company could move forward."
In November, Binance reached a resolution with multiple U.S. government agencies over historical compliance issues, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. CZ agreed to plead guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls when Binance was first launched. He stepped down from his role as CEO at that time, while the company agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine.
A federal judge sentenced CZ in April to four months in prison, CoinDesk reported. He reported to the prison in Santa Barbara County, California, last month to begin the sentence. He was also fined $50 million.
After he was sentenced, CZ said, "I will do my time, conclude this phase and focus on the next chapter of my life (education)," according to a post on X. "A silver lining of this whole process is that Binance has been under the microscope," Zhao said, adding that Binance customer funds have remained safe.
Binance was launched in 2017, according to CoinMarketCap. As of August 2022, Binance had a daily trading volume of approximately $76 billion, making it the largest crypto exchange in the world. Binance lists more than 350 tokens and enables users to buy, sell, and store digital assets.
Teng joined Binance in August 2021, according to Binance's website. He previously served as CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), chief regulatory officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX), and director of corporate finance at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He became CEO of the company in November 2023.