Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) owns 64% of Binance Coin’s (BNB) float, or roughly 94 million BNB tokens, in response to a Forbes report.
Based on a forensic evaluation carried out by Grey Wolf Analytics and a monetary company, 80 million BNB tokens have been allotted to Binance’s founding staff, and the corporate nonetheless controls 46 million of these unique tokens.
The report additionally notes that Binance and CZ collectively maintain 71% of the 147 million BNB in circulation. Zhao’s 90% stake in Binance and the worth of his crypto holdings have made him the twenty fourth richest individual on the planet with a internet price of $61 billion.
BNB Tokenomics
BNB is Binance’s native alternate token used for charges and rewards on the Binance platform. The utility token has a most provide of 200 million, with over 153 million BNB tokens circulating out there.
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At $593 per token, BNB’s present market capitalization is over $91 billion. BNB is having fun with a rally that doubled the token’s value from lows of round $290 in January 2024 to a excessive of $724 in June.
Ministry of Justice v. Czech Republic
In 2023, the US Division of Justice (DOJ) introduced fees in opposition to Zhao and Binance for allegedly violating sanctions and cash laundering legal guidelines. Zhao, who was CEO on the time, entered right into a plea settlement with US prosecutors.
CZ pleaded responsible to violating the Financial institution Secrecy Act and agreed to step down from his management place at Binance; he was succeeded by present CEO Richard Teng. The settlement additionally included $50 million in fines for the previous CEO and a whopping $4.3 billion for Binance. As well as, the Division of Justice appointed Forensic Threat Alliance, an unbiased consulting agency, to behave as Binance’s monitor for the subsequent three years.
On April 30, Zhao was sentenced by US federal decide Richard Jones to 4 months in jail, far lower than the three years advisable by US prosecutors for Zhao’s alleged position in evading sanctions violations and facilitating cash laundering.
Journal: Slumdog Billionaire: An Unimaginable Rags-to-Wealthy Story by Polygon’s Sandeep Neilwal.