Date: 2024-09-27 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00025764
THE CRYPTO ECOSYSTEM
BINANCE
Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Loses $12 Billion on Crypto-Trading Slump ... Crypto exchange CEO’s wealth has plunged 82% since its peak ... US regulators have sued Binance alleging a range of violations
BINANCE
Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Loses $12 Billion on Crypto-Trading Slump ... Crypto exchange CEO’s wealth has plunged 82% since its peak ... US regulators have sued Binance alleging a range of violations
Changpeng Zhao (CZ) ... Photographer: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg
Original article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-26/binance-founder-cz-loses-12-billion-on-crypto-trading-slump
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
I followed the development of the 'crypto' economy very closely for several years in the early 2000s ... specififically I was an active member of the Wall Street ????????? which was tracking technical developments of blockchain and the emergence of new payment possibilities. I dropped away from this when it was becoming apparent that the big banks were starting to dominate everything that was going on.
I have been somewhat surprised at how much 'money' has flowed into the crypto 'casino' with almost no true justification. Accordingly it does not come as a surprise that the 'crytp industry' is going through massive losses and 'the law' is now starting to catch up!
Peter Burgess
- Crypto exchange CEO’s wealth has plunged 82% since its peak
- US regulators have sued Binance alleging a range of violations
October 26, 2023 at 4:43 PM EDT
Sam Bankman-Fried, on trial for fraud in New York, isn’t the only crypto founder feeling the heat.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index slashed its estimate of revenues at crypto exchange Binance by 38% after data showed volumes at the firm declined this year. That wiped $11.9 billion from the fortune of Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, dropping him to $17.2 billion.
CZ, 46, played a role in the events that landed Bankman-Fried in federal court. In November, the Binance founder announced he was liquidating a token linked to FTX following a report that Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund Alameda Research also owned a large position in it. Some FTX customers rushed to pull money and the exchange was unable to keep up with the surge in withdrawals. Less than a week later it declared bankruptcy.
That sent Bankman-Fried’s own fortune to zero after peaking at $26 billion in March last year.
The Index calculates Binance’s revenue using spot and derivatives trading data from crypto-tracking services Coingecko and Coinpaprika.
Binance gained market share earlier this year, peaking at 62% of total on-exchange crypto trades in the first quarter, thanks to a zero-fee promotion for popular trading pairs. Once the offer ended, Binance’s share slid to 51% at the end of the third quarter, according to research firm CCData.
Representatives for Binance didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In recent months, the crypto exchange has found itself increasingly isolated from the traditional financial system.
The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance in June, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission went after it earlier this year for shirking rules that allowed US users to access Binance. Regulatory officials claimed the firm lacked adequate money-laundering controls, inflated trading volumes and mishandled client assets. Binance disputes the allegations and is fighting them in court.
In June, Bloomberg’s wealth index cut the value of Binance’s US exchange to zero after it announced it would no longer transact in dollars, shrinking volumes dramatically. Binance.US had been valued at $4.7 billion in a March 2022 funding round, while CZ’s net worth hit a peak of $96 billion in January of that year.
The pain hasn’t been confined to Binance, as regulatory uncertainty and rising interest rates make other investments more attractive. Spot trading volume at Coinbase Global Inc. fell 52% in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to CCData.
- Read More: Bankman-Fried Needs to Testify Twice: To Judge, Then to Jury
- Read More: Crypto Exchange Binance, CEO Zhao Ask Court to Dismiss SEC Suit