Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has paid tribute to former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao following his controversial departure from the leading crypto exchange.
Following an eventful week that saw Binance pay a $4.3 billion fine to U.S. authorities and founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) depart as CEO, many industry experts have paid tribute to the influential crypto figure. Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson was not left out, with the founder staging a livestream to acknowledge his “friend” CZ.
Charles Hoskinson praised CZ’s commitment to the growth of the crypto space, as he, through Binance, helped revolutionize the trading experience for crypto investors.
The Cardano founder recalled the days when people traded Bitcoin with spreadsheets and used not-so-friendly trading platforms such as MtGox and LocalBitcoins.
However, he admits that Binance, among other exchanges that came in the second wave, took global crypto trading to a whole new level. In the words of the Cardano founder, Binance, under the leadership of Changpeng Zhao, drove the industry forward at a remarkable speed.
He said, “CZ was part of a class of entrepreneurs in the cryptocurrency space who epitomized the move-fast, roll, and innovate side of things.” Within a few years after its launch, Hoskinson acknowledged that Binance had grown into a “Leviathan” and maintained its position until CZ’s recent departure.
Rating CZ’s position among other entrepreneurs who have worked in the crypto space, Hoskinson admitted, “He was one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time in the industry.” the Cardano founder believed that CZ rightly earned that title as Binance under his purview moved trillions of dollars worth of value.
The majority of such value was created by the crypto industry in the past few years, and that is “unheard of,” Charles Hoskinson noted. He also praised Binance’s ability to achieve such a high market valuation in such a short time. Binance’s BNB token remains the fourth largest crypto asset by market capitalization ($35.8 billion) despite the latest turn of events.
America’s Weaponized Regime Trapped CZ
Charles Hoskinson also shared his thoughts on the huge fine Binance had to shell out to the U.S. authorities and the enforced departure of its CEO. The Cardano founder noted that Binance has simply been a victim of a weaponized financial regime in the United States.
He explained that unlike FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arraigned for fraud and stealing customer assets, the clampdown on Binance and CZ was because “he [CZ] opened up markets that allowed the enemies of America to basically trade and do things.”
The End of an Era https://t.co/d3AcHWu66C
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) November 22, 2023
U.S. authorities had cited the violation of money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctions laws as the reasons for its case against Binance. However, Hoskinson recounts that “open permissionless protocols [such as those enabled by crypto] tend to invite” such activities and Binance was merely a victim.
Meanwhile, the Cardano founder expressed conviction that despite the fundamental change in the regulatory landscape within the crypto industry, entrepreneurs will continue to innovate. Charles Hoskinson wished CZ well on his next endeavors, and reiterated his commitment to keep playing his own role in helping Cardano drive global adoption.
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