After pleading guilty to federal charges and agreeing to pay $4.3 billion in fines, Changpeng Zhao announced that he was stepping down as the CEO of Binance. Amidst the many controversies surrounding his departure, CZ has now officially stepped down as the Chairman of the U.S. arm of the Binance exchange.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Binance.US announced in a lengthy post, as it clarified that Binance.US operates independently from Binance.com.
While the former caters to the needs of U.S.-based customers and works by all U.S. rules and regulations, the latter serves an international market.
Binance.US clarified that it was not a party to the settlements announced last week and has no outstanding enforcement matters with the DOJ, FinCEN, OFAC, or CFTC. The firm will continue to operate and serve its customers with the same products and services as it did previously.
Speaking on CZ’s resignation as chairman of the global exchange’s U.S. affiliate’s board, the announcement read;
“That said, as CZ transitions to life after Binance, he has decided to step down from his role as Chairman of our Board of Directors and transferred his voting rights through a proxy arrangement, whereby his interest in the company is purely economic and he will no longer be involved in our governance.”
The announcement recognized CZ’s impact on the exchange’s success over the years. However, from now on, operations will continue as usual. Norman Reed, who previously served as a General Counsel for different financial services companies, will continue leading the firm and its existing management team.
We wanted to provide an update to the https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS community in light of last week’s news regarding CZ and https://t.co/IZwa5M2U8b.
As you know, https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS was launched with the express purpose of serving United States customers in accordance with all…
— Binance.US
(@BinanceUS) November 28, 2023
Meanwhile, Changpeng Zhao has remained active on the X platform. After exiting his position as CEO of Binance, he made clear that he had no interest in heading another crypto firm. In the long term, he plans to passively invest in Blockchain, Web3, DeFi, AI, and Biotech.
“Been reading about biotech, thinking about how to use crypto to accelerate research funding there. Keep building!” He wrote.
He continues to push back on rumours alleging that he misappropriated user funds and engaged in market manipulation. CZ has reacted to claims that a U.S. judge denied his request to leave the country before possible sentencing [as part of his plea agreement]; he liked a post that insisted that “The judge stayed the ruling pending a full hearing.”
