Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has spent the past year rebuilding influence after serving four months in prison for violating US Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules.
Binance paid a $4.3-billion penalty fine; Zhao himself paid a $50-million criminal fine. He also received a lifetime ban from holding an executive position at the exchange.
Over the year that followed his release in September 2024, Zhao resurfaced with government advisory roles. He moved memecoins with his X posts and fended off claims by The Wall Street Journal that he was courting influence through the Trump family and the World Liberty Foundation.
In mid-September 2025, Zhao updated his X profile introduction from “ex-@binance” to “@binance.” Then on Oct. 23, he received a pardon from US President Donald Trump.
These are the moves that kept him relevant in the year leading up to his pardon.
Binance Labs rebrands and YZi Labs expands
Even without an executive role, Zhao continues to benefit from Binance’s performance. He reportedly still owns about 90% of the company.
In February, he posted a screenshot suggesting that 98% of his personal crypto investments are in BNB (BNB). Forbes pegs his net worth at roughly $87.2 billion, though Zhao insists, “I don’t have that much.”
Zhao said in November 2024 that he did not intend to return to the exchange’s leadership. But following his pardon, the circumstances around his potential involvement with the exchange have changed. Binance did not respond to Cointelegraph by press time.
Richard Teng now leads the centralized exchange, while Zhao has shifted his focus to YZi Labs — the venture arm formerly known as Binance Labs — where he took on a mentoring role after its rebrand in January.
YZi Labs has been actively deploying capital in crypto, AI and biotechnology. It led the November 2024 seed round in Astherus, which would later become the derivatives platform Aster, and it recently increased its exposure to Ethena, the issuer of the synthetic dollar USDe, which has climbed into the top 25 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization with more than $10 billion in circulation.
The firm has also backed projects across the infrastructure stack, such as Digital Asset and its Canton Network and US-based 10X Capital’s BNB…
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