Binance Founder CZ Opens Up About His Time In Prison

Key Points:

• Binance founder CZ made his first public appearance in Dubai since serving a four-month U.S. prison sentence.
• CZ introduced his new project, Giggle Academy, a digital education platform focused on providing learning resources.

Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, made his first public appearance since his release from a four-month prison sentence in the United States during Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai.

Read more: Binance Founder CZ Will Continue With His Own New Project After Prison

Binance Founder CZ Returns to Public Stage After U.S. Prison Sentence

In a recently held interview with Altcoin Daily’s Austin Arnold, Binance founder CZ got candid about his recent experiences and future plans. The owner faced charges of anti-money laundering violations. Arnold led the discussion in a light note by asking about the “summer in prison” of Zhao.

Zhao’s public return comes after his guilty plea in the U.S., where he acknowledged negligence in anti-money laundering practices. His plea deal saw Binance agree to a historic $4.3 billion fine to settle its legal case with the U.S. Department of Justice. CZ, who was personally fined $50 million, is also forbidden from holding any managerial position at Binance for the next three years.

Ditching his signature Binance T-shirt, CZ was wearing a shirt with a “Giggle Academy” logo, which is one of his digital education projects this year.

Zhao shared that Giggle Academy is an online educational portal for students who can’t attend schools or colleges. He further explained on X that the website underwent closed testing, sending out 2,400 invitations, and hundreds of users have already started using early features.

Binance founder CZ was quite emotional as he recollected his prison time, saying that excluding being a rich man, he adapted to prison, jokingly referring to himself as “the poorest” inmate since he had only $200 for cafeteria food.

CZ Shifts Focus to Investments in AI, Biotech, and Blockchain

Looking ahead, CZ added that he would not be returning to the Binance executive team, although he said he would stay on as a shareholder of the company. Calling his forced “retirement” an unexpected opportunity to finally do some of the other things that interested him, in addition to Giggle Academy, Zhao also mentioned investment opportunities in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and blockchain as one of his main focuses.

In a nutshell, Binance founder CZ is very optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies. Indeed, as he has expressed himself his long-term outlook on the cryptocurrency market is “very bullish.”