In a recent social media post, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao commented on the second anniversary of the FTX collapse.
Zhao joked that it “definitely” felt like these events took place 20 years ago.
On Nov. 8, 2022, FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, started to unravel in a rapid fashion.
After squabbling with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Zhao shocked the cryptocurrency industry by announcing that Binance had singed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire its archrival after the former faced “a significant liquidity crunch.”
It also turned out that FTX had ceased processing withdrawals, pushing crypto prices sharply lower.
Later, it turned out that Bankman-Fried had committed massive fraud, stealing billions of dollars from the exchange’s unfortunate customers.
Bankman-Fried ended up being sentenced to 25 years behind bars back in March.
Despite emerging victorious in his public feud with Bankman-Fried, Zhao also ended up falling from grace. Earlier this year, he served several months behind bars at a low-security correctional facility after pleading guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws and stepping down as the Binance CEO in 2023.
While both crypto moguls ended up behind bars, their cases are not even remotely comparable. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Zhao stressed that comparing him to Bankman-Fried would be tantamount to comparing a thief to “somebody who failed to register a company.”
As reported by U.Today, Zhao does not want to go back to spearheading the Binance exchange.