The post ‘It’s Not Fun’: Binance Founder CZ Recounts Prison Experience appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

In brief In an interview with Rug Radio’s Farokh Sarmad, Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao described his four-month prison experience as “scary” and “extremely hard.” Zhao said that he developed friendships with inmates, including a cellmate he said was convicted of double murder. • The experience changed Zhao’s priorities, he said, placing health and family above work. Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said that his time spent in prison was “scary” and “extremely hard,” adding that he wouldn’t wish it on anybody—though he admitted that the experience ultimately brought him closer to his family. Last year, Zhao was sentenced to four months in U.S. prison after pleading guilty to money laundering violations. As a result, Zhao was forced to step down as CEO of Binance as part of a $4.3 billion settlement between him, the exchange, and U.S. authorities. “The minute you walk in, there are guys with tattoos, all big buff guys, [with] face tattoos, head tattoos, and they’re all yelling over each other,” Zhao told Farokh Sarmad of Rug Radio—Decrypt’s sister company—in a video interview from last week’s Token2049 conference in Dubai. “When you’re walking in, it’s like: This is not fun.” He explained the dehumanizing process of entering prison, including having to spread your “butt cheeks” during a strip search—an “extremely hard” moment, Zhao recalled, adding that he “would not wish that experience on anyone.” Zhao said that when he first arrived, his cellmate had been convicted for double murder. Because the former CEO is not a U.S. citizen, he was restricted from being placed in a minimum security prison. Instead he was put in a low-security facility, where his cellmate was living due to good behavior. “My celly had a 30-year sentence for murdering two guys at once,” Zhao told Farokh. “I shared…

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Filed under: News - @ May 6, 2025 1:26 am