At the recent Binance Blockchain Week conference, Changpeng Zhao said they put him in prison but did not depict what happened to him in prison in detail.
Speaking to Wu Blockchain podcast after serving a year in prison following a plea deal with the US authorities in November and after resigning as the CEO of Binance, Zhao said that he missed people the most during his time in jail.
He spoke on the Banking Secrecy Act violation for which he was sentenced stating he was the first to be put into jail for one offense of this nature. He compared his case to other recent settlements, such as TD Bank, which faced a $1.8 billion fine, but no one was prosecuted.
Zhao Clarifies Binance Status and Launches Giggle Academy
In as much as to explain his current standing with the Binance, Zhao has stated that despite of possessing a large stake in the company, he no longer has any management duties. He denied claims of getting barred ‘for life’ from managing crypto exchanges saying, there were no exclusion of such words in the plea agreement. Looking forward, Zhao announced two primary ventures: Stores, sponsorships, and investing in such sectors as the casual wear manufacturer Giggle Academy, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology.
Zhao unveiled grand plans for Giggle Academy, an educational venture to deliver digital education to about 1.2 billion people who are out of school. This supports the use of AI, game developers and educators to develop mobile-based interactive content that is developed from social impact viewpoint, not monetary values. According to Zhao to create content on different subject areas and different languages it will cost him $1- $2 billion.
Zhao also continues to hold a bullish grip on cryptocurrency, emphasizing the narrative of the long-term sector that’s interrupted by short-term fluctuations. He discussed where the Bitcoin price was four years ago and pointed to the fact which keeps relevant up to now, namely, the development of infrastructure in the cryptocurrency market.
Speaking on regulation Zhao said that there has been positive development in the adoption of regulations for cryptocurrencies across various jurisdictions but also noted that larger nations generally take longer to effectively put a rig(holder regulatory structures.