CZ Sentenced, Your Bitcoin in their Custody

[avikz]

It's more unfortunate rather than a joke! It's unfortunate to see US government is constantly attacking crypto related businesses and people involved in it. It's unfortunate to see the negative stance of US government regarding the cryptos in general.

4 months is nothing! But I wonder why a businessman has to go to prison even after agreed to do a settlement of $4 billion! Crypto businesses need to think 10 times before they want to start a new venture from American soil. There are many crypto friendly countries on earth. They just need to move out, completely.

Binance by far, the biggest crypto exchange in the world so they are able to soak that hit. Think about a smaller exchange, they would have to go out of the business!

[yudi09]

Not what I imagined the punishment meted out to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Simply because there was no evidence that CZ was ever informed of the laundering, the judge ruled four months and no trial. Reportedly the judge rejected the prosecutor's request to increase his sentence.
From the news surrounding the legal decision received by CZ, it appears that the law is only on paper which burns easily and turns to dust.

[Z-tight]

4 months is nothing! But I wonder why a businessman has to go to prison even after agreed to do a settlement of $4 billion! Crypto businesses need to think 10 times before they want to start a new venture from American soil. There are many crypto friendly countries on earth. They just need to move out, completely.

He is going to prison for just four months, it isn't like he was sentenced to many years in prison. Take note that it is because of the settlement and guilty plea that he is getting just four months in jail. There's no way they would simply have let him go without any extra punishment of jail term, and four months is really nothing.

However, you are right about the U.S being unfriendly to crypto and crypto services all in the name of fighting money laundering, who knows the next service they will go after.

[Slow death]

It's more unfortunate rather than a joke! It's unfortunate to see US government is constantly attacking crypto related businesses and people involved in it. It's unfortunate to see the negative stance of US government regarding the cryptos in general.

4 months is nothing! But I wonder why a businessman has to go to prison even after agreed to do a settlement of $4 billion! Crypto businesses need to think 10 times before they want to start a new venture from American soil. There are many crypto friendly countries on earth. They just need to move out, completely.

Binance by far, the biggest crypto exchange in the world so they are able to soak that hit. Think about a smaller exchange, they would have to go out of the business!

This issue of laws is something that seems not to be good but is actually good for protecting people. Some people may hate what the US government is doing but when we look at a scenario where a person deposits money on an exchange and then at the time of withdrawal it is not allowed and days after begging a lot for the exchange employees to return their money and discovers that the owner of the exchange disappeared with all the money, so at that time this person who lost all the money on the exchange will be thinking how good it would have been if they used an exchange that was licensed and operated in the USA because the laws in the USA work much better than in other countries

Of course, I also agree that there are cases in which it seems to me that the US government justice system is persecuting people who are interested in cryptocurrencies, such as Roger, who sees that although I disagree with him about many of the things he says about bitcoin, I still don't think it's fair what the US justice system is doing with it

US Justice Dept charges Roger Ver with tax fraud

The early crypto investor, often called ‘Bitcoin Jesus,’ faces extradition to the U.S. after being charged with evading nearly $50 million in taxes.

source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/roger-ver-tax-fraud-charges

From what I could understand, Roger Ver is a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis since 2014 and the accusation that is being made against him, it talks about a crime from 2017, so it is strange that the US justice system is persecuting the guy 10 years after he changed his nationality. It appears that the US justice system is trying to impose itself on the justice system of other countries, as if laws and courts did not exist in other countries as well. In the case of CZ, it also seems that the US justice system is punishing him to show the world that they are superior. for example he paid 4 billion and showed regret, so why are they still sentencing him to 4 months in jail?

[Zlantann]

4 months... must be a joke. It is probably just a warning to the other exchange and casino owners.  (and theymos lol)

A real joke. I think the US government was more interested in getting money from Binance and nothing more. The sentence is just to deceive the public that Changpeng Zhao also faced physical punishment. I have seen people suffer stiffer punishments for lesser offenses. Maybe it I a warning for others to keep finds aside for settlement when the government comes for them.

But, my money in binance is safe right?
Sorry got a bit panic when i saw this thread and since i can't access my wallet right now, i'm just making sure everything is alright.

It is risky to keep large sums in exchanges. You can use them for trading but they are ideal places to keep your funds for a long. They are controlled by individuals who can mismanage funds which could make them go bankrupt. The platform could also be seized at any time since they are centralized. It is better to keep your coins in an open-source noncustodial wallet.

[Easteregg69]

This system is never gonna succeed if you don't wash the tyrants out.

[bittraffic]

The 4-month sentence must have been the reason for panicking that caused the price to go down. Right?

I doubt our coins to be in their custody though. They don't have access to the binance.com but only binance.us AFAIK however it would not be surprising if they also request to have access to the users in the main website because there are US citizens trading there before the regulations.  CZ seem a hostage.

[Easteregg69]

It's more unfortunate rather than a joke! It's unfortunate to see US government is constantly attacking crypto related businesses and people involved in it. It's unfortunate to see the negative stance of US government regarding the cryptos in general.

4 months is nothing! But I wonder why a businessman has to go to prison even after agreed to do a settlement of $4 billion! Crypto businesses need to think 10 times before they want to start a new venture from American soil. There are many crypto friendly countries on earth. They just need to move out, completely.

Binance by far, the biggest crypto exchange in the world so they are able to soak that hit. Think about a smaller exchange, they would have to go out of the business!

This issue of laws is something that seems not to be good but is actually good for protecting people. Some people may hate what the US government is doing but when we look at a scenario where a person deposits money on an exchange and then at the time of withdrawal it is not allowed and days after begging a lot for the exchange employees to return their money and discovers that the owner of the exchange disappeared with all the money, so at that time this person who lost all the money on the exchange will be thinking how good it would have been if they used an exchange that was licensed and operated in the USA because the laws in the USA work much better than in other countries

Of course, I also agree that there are cases in which it seems to me that the US government justice system is persecuting people who are interested in cryptocurrencies, such as Roger, who sees that although I disagree with him about many of the things he says about bitcoin, I still don't think it's fair what the US justice system is doing with it

US Justice Dept charges Roger Ver with tax fraud

The early crypto investor, often called ‘Bitcoin Jesus,’ faces extradition to the U.S. after being charged with evading nearly $50 million in taxes.

source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/roger-ver-tax-fraud-charges

From what I could understand, Roger Ver is a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis since 2014 and the accusation that is being made against him, it talks about a crime from 2017, so it is strange that the US justice system is persecuting the guy 10 years after he changed his nationality. It appears that the US justice system is trying to impose itself on the justice system of other countries, as if laws and courts did not exist in other countries as well. In the case of CZ, it also seems that the US justice system is punishing him to show the world that they are superior. for example he paid 4 billion and showed regret, so why are they still sentencing him to 4 months in jail?

You get 3 month for hitting on an old lady.

Don't sell your bitcoin. Use it for creditscore.

And one more thing. Roger is more of a Jesus now than ever!

[Wapfika]

But, my money in binance is safe right?
Sorry got a bit panic when i saw this thread and since i can't access my wallet right now, i'm just making sure everything is alright.

Do you even realized that CZ is not the CEO of Binance anymore right? He step down to avoid being dragged down the exchange with his case which is effective since the exchange is operating normally despite the legal charges to CZ. His “4” is really effective on mind conditioning his blind follower to absorb the impact of his sentence since this will cause a major setback on exchange if CZ doesn’t condition his followers properly just like what happened to FTX.

CZ pleaded guilty yet no one is panicking since BNB price is still near peak while the exchange still have a huge trading volume which is a clear sign that this news is already not relevant anymore to the exchange.

[348Judah]

Well but 4 months is a laugh, and he won't go to prison, it's all a consequence of a pact. Although if we think about it more broadly this is part of an attack on privacy, for which it seems to be money laundering anything that has to do with protecting it. And the bad news is that it seems to me that this has only just begun.

Same thoughts as well, the government want to have a target on most of the giant bitcoin exchanges, users and then frustrate them in other to get other investors discourage about bitcoin, which is something I will like us to consider well that government could be devising some means to attack users, but the mistake they are making is to start with exchange because a reasonable user eill not habe his entire asset with exchanges, instead on a non custodial wallet, as you have said, more are still coming, but the next one may be a big one that might hit the exchange users where they least expected, the earlier the better people understand ejy centralized exchange is not safe for them.

[Abiky]

What next after four months,

On Tuesday, the Binance CEO CZ was sentenced to four months imprisonment all on the charges of allowing for the participation of illegal money laundry from his exchange Binance, the US government gile a lawsuit against him and charged him, same way they habe been clamping down of other privacy means in which bitcoiner can use to achieve thier goals, i don't wa t to mention the keyword bit we all know about the recent ban thst took effect since January 1st of this year 2024.

With all these happening, I suggest we should be reminded as bitcoiners on what we are made for and should not loose focus on how we can achieve our target with the use of bitcoin for our financial economy in all modules of it's applications Privacy should be our heritage with bitcoin, using centralized exchanges is the weakest means to have it, because the governments will be after you when you're under a centralized exchange, they have all your details with them.

Every bitcoiners should understand why they need to have in custody their own digital financial asset and not with third parties like exchange ss, they can be attacked, hacked and if any of these happens, our asset with them are gone, we should learn to avoid the use of exchange, hold our bitcoin on cold storages and remember that not your keys not your coins still ever remains verdict in bitcoin network.

Four months is nothing, tbh. It goes away fast. They should've let CZ free, though. Especially when he paid a large fine and admitted he was guilty of money laundering. CZ even went as far as stepping down from his role as CEO of Binance. At least, his sentence isn't as bad as SBF's.

The US government has been targeting the crypto industry lately, so I wouldn't be surprised if they hunt down someone else next (Vitalik Buterin, maybe?). I've read somewhere on the forums that Roger Ver (BCH proponent, which is aka Bitcoin Jesus) was arrested for tax evasion. So you can see where everything is heading to. A good thing Satoshi Nakamoto never revealed his/her identity. Otherwise, he/she would be toast by now.

[coolcoinz]

Do you know what's most interesting in this whole situation? I'd point at two things.
1. He obviously was accepting bitcoin from shady groups, hackers, sanctioned entities and so on, but never really faced anything besides fines. How many people do you know who are found guilty of something like a fraud or money laundering and don't get at least a mandatory year in prison? IMO this is one big extortion from the US gov. They know he's got money and he's willing to pay them off.

2. I thought he struck a deal last year and they still decided to prosecute him. IMO they wanted more money, or they wanted to suppress the price of bitcoin by going after him. This is obviously much bigger than CZ and Binance. This is about shaking out weak hands and allowing rich people who missed the first ETF wave to accumulate.

[electronicash]

Do you know what's most interesting in this whole situation? I'd point at two things.
1. He obviously was accepting bitcoin from shady groups, hackers, sanctioned entities and so on, but never really faced anything besides fines. How many people do you know who are found guilty of something like a fraud or money laundering and don't get at least a mandatory year in prison? IMO this is one big extortion from the US gov. They know he's got money and he's willing to pay them off.

2. I thought he struck a deal last year and they still decided to prosecute him. IMO they wanted more money, or they wanted to suppress the price of bitcoin by going after him. This is obviously much bigger than CZ and Binance. This is about shaking out weak hands and allowing rich people who missed the first ETF wave to accumulate.

CZ is rich and he sees everything has a piece tag. maybe he bought those judges already 4 months after violating the law that will most likely cause a war if it's the sanctioned countries do it.

but i'm also speculating CZ is paying a huge amount for this and most probably he is going to make a deal in snitching those in the market. gonna be a disaster which CZ i can tell that CZ may not really be a friend of crypto. SBF was doing the same to save his ass.

[FanEagle]

When you are sentenced to 4  months in prison, you do not see a day in prison at all. First of all, I am %100 sure that he would simply just not go to USA and won't see a day in jail let alone prison. However, even in that case this just turns into money and you pay the money and you get out of this judgement, you do not go to actually see inside the prison, not for even a single day.

However, USA is actually making sense with this, normally I would call it a hoax and just say that USA is trying to pressure CZ into something, but yes there was actual proof that Binance as a company (maybe not CZ) was aware of the money laundering on their website and let it happen, which is fully illegal, hence it is normal that there is a crime here that needs to be pointed out.

[Spaceman1000$]

https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1785384669812273570?t=ZGZzfngY_UpyDCLbq4hWTA&s=19


What next after four months,

On Tuesday, the Binance CEO CZ was sentenced to four months imprisonment all on the charges of allowing for the participation of illegal money laundry from his exchange Binance, the US government gile a lawsuit against him and charged him, same way they habe been clamping down of other privacy means in which bitcoiner can use to achieve thier goals, i don't wa t to mention the keyword bit we all know about the recent ban thst took effect since January 1st of this year 2024.

With all these happening, I suggest we should be reminded as bitcoiners on what we are made for and should not loose focus on how we can achieve our target with the use of bitcoin for our financial economy in all modules of it's applications Privacy should be our heritage with bitcoin, using centralized exchanges is the weakest means to have it, because the governments will be after you when you're under a centralized exchange, they have all your details with them.

Every bitcoiners should understand why they need to have in custody their own digital financial asset and not with third parties like exchange ss, they can be attacked, hacked and if any of these happens, our asset with them are gone, we should learn to avoid the use of exchange, hold our bitcoin on cold storages and remember that not your keys not your coins still ever remains verdict in bitcoin network.

The Binance CEO has really faced a lot of persecution from the government, he is like a lone sheep in the wilderness facing all the wolves.
This is more like giving a dog a bad name just so that you could kill it, it's purely a fight against the Bitcoin community and considering the fact that Binance is a leading CEX, they are fighting it with all their might. Luckily a four months sentence is not much, but it's a dent on his imagine and that is what they've been looking for, since the last prosecution ended in forfeiture.

[Potato Chips]

The 4-month sentence must have been the reason for panicking that caused the price to go down. Right?

I'm leaning towards no since their BNB should've taken hit the most if so. Further, 4 months ain't exactly bad as we can also see from CZ's happy face lmao -- assuming it's not an old photo taken to spice things up lol.

IDK about btc's price decrease tho, just took it as a post halving dump haha

[The Cryptovator]

Recently, I left Binance and withdrew all the funds. To be honest, for some reasons, they had frozen my account; later, they unfroze it but did not allow me to trade there. So I moved all the funds to my hardware wallet. Now there are no more funds in Binance, and I have almost secured all my funds with hardware wallets. Nowadays, I don't trust much in centralised exchange anymore. They can freeze all the funds for any reason. So you need to be very careful when using centralised exchanges, not just Binance. 

[Z-tight]

Nowadays, I don't trust much in centralised exchange anymore. They can freeze all the funds for any reason. So you need to be very careful when using centralised exchanges, not just Binance.

You are right, and you have made the right decision about your coins, not your keys; not your coins. Centralized exchanges has never been a trusted and secure way to store coins, they have the keys and they can confiscate your funds anytime or lose your money in fractional reserve 'scam'. If you don't want to lose your coins, then it should be offline and in your own self custody.

[nelson4lov]

~Snipped

Binance by far, the biggest crypto exchange in the world so they are able to soak that hit. Think about a smaller exchange, they would have to go out of the business!

It's the same way the US prosecutors are going after decentralized platforms now like Uniswap. Heck, even the SEC say that ETH is a security. Whether centralized or decentralized, anything that has to do with crypto will always be up for scrutiny by the government. With the way government is moving, I have a feeling that they'd be going after more crypto businesses and firms in the near future as long as they've managed to convict one of the biggest KOLs in crypto (CZ), they'd want to go after others.

[Nothingtodo]

The former CEO of the popular central exchange Binance, C Z, has been sentenced to four months in prison. Since the sentence is only four months, there will be no change in the rules of the exchange and no negative impact on the exchange. Since CZ has already resigned as CEO, I don't think his prison sentence will have any negative impact on Binance Exchange.