From 25 years in prison to just four months: Inside the final verdict on a crypto billionaire CEO archrivalry
A longtime battle between cryptocurrency titans was brought to a close in federal court this past week when Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was handed a sentence of four months in prison.
The criminal judgment was in stark contrast to the 25-year prison sentence FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried received.
The crypto kingpins shared a pulpit for years from which they preached the power of decentralized, digital currencies to the masses, but the difference in prison sentences highlights how they were nothing alike in business or in personal dealings.
Combination showing Former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (L) and Zhao Changpeng (R), founder and chief executive officer of Binance.
Combination showing Former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (L) and Zhao Changpeng (R), founder and chief executive officer of Binance.
Mike Segar | Reuters | Benjamin Girette | Bloomberg | Getty Images
An arch rivalry between one-time crypto titans was brought to a close at a federal courthouse in Seattle on Tuesday when Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was handed a sentence of four months in prison. A month earlier, on the opposite coast in downtown Manhattan, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison sentence for his crimes.
It seemed an underwhelming and somewhat anti-climactic finish to a protracted battle between Zhao and Bankman-Fried, two men who were legendary adversaries, as well as key stewards of the $2.2 trillion crypto sector.
For years, Binance’s Zhao and FTX’s Bankman-Fried preached the power of decentralized, digital currencies to the masses. Both were bitcoin
billionaires who drove Toyotas, ran their own global cryptocurrency exchanges and spent much of their professional career selling the public on a new, tech-powered world order; one where an alternative financial system comprised of borderless virtual coins would liberate the oppressed by eliminating middlemen like banks and the overreach of the government.
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