Binance founder Changpeng Zhao faces sentencing over money laundering violations: CNBC Crypto World

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao faces sentencing over money laundering violations: CNBC Crypto World

today former binance CEO Chang Pang Xiao
faces sentencing in federal court micro
strategy reports a wide earnings Miss in
quarter 1 even with bitcoin’s huge gains
and Kevin denino of kcpr explains what
it’s like to run a crypto business in
today’s
environment welcome to cnbc’s crypto
world I’m TAA mckel crypto prices
sliding to end the month Bitcoin fell
more than 35% to the $60,000 level by no
Eastern ether dropped 6% below $3,000
and polygon lost 7% to trade at 66
Bitcoin tumbled 11% in April also by
noon Eastern marking its first down
month in 8 and its worst month since
November 2022 meanwhile ether falling
133% to its first negative month in 8
and worst month since June 2022
investors expecting more choppy trading
in a narrow range in the month ahead now
that the key Bitcoin catalysts the ETF
and having are behind us and macro and
geopolitical pressures weigh on the
markets
broadly okay let’s talk about the top
stories micro strategy reported a loss
of more than $53 million in the first
quarter of 2024 that’s thanks to a
digital asset impairment charge the
self-described Bitcoin development
company reported totaling more than $191
million that impairment comes despite
bitcoin’s surge of nearly 67% in q1
micro strategy also updated its total
Bitcoin Holdings to
$214,400 at an average price of
$35,100 per Bitcoin as of April 26th
shares of the stock plunged this morning
following yesterday’s report down nearly
15% as of noon next spot Bitcoin and
ether ETFs just made their debut in Asia
the six funds began trading on the Hong
Kong Stock Exchange 3 months after the
approval of spot ETFs here in the US the
products were issued by China Asset
Management bosera asset management and
harvest Global investments in itively
saw a first day trading volume of more
than 10 million shares this launch beats
the US’s decision on spot ether ETFs the
SEC is expected to make that decision in
May finally Chang Pang Xiao the ex CEO
of binance is about to find out if he
faces prison time back in November he
pleaded guilty to enabling moneya
laundering on the binance platform all
part of a plea deal that required The
Exchange to pay $4.3 billion in fines
and for him to pay $50 million while
stepping down as CEO cz’s lawyers have
asked for probation while prosecutors
are asking for 3 years in prison more
than the 10 to 16 months legal experts
told CNBC were the guidelines for these
crimes judges can use their discretion
so they’ll be watching to see just how
much prison time might be handed down to
CZ during the hearing this case stands
as a sharp contrast of rival from FTX
which was revealed to be a massive fraud
back in 2022 y yav a law professor and
Associate Dean at Vanderbilt told CNBC
that CZ could benefit from the fact that
binance is still operational and working
on compliance efforts now all that being
said the sentencing hearing is happening
on the west coast so the verdict is
coming after this show goes up on
Tuesday you should check out cnbc.com
for the latest on Chang Pang Xiao
sentencing all right for our main story
let’s talk about the outlook for crypto
businesses the turmoil over at binance
the fall of FTX several crypto
bankruptcies and a huge crash in crypto
markets damaged trust in the ecosystem
but things seem to be looking up this
year crypto world Jordan Smith spoke
with Kevin denino founder and president
of kcpr to find out how crypto
businesses are positioning themselves in
2024 Bitcoin came roaring back uh after
the doldrums of last year when we spoke
to you last time it was like June of
2023 um it seems like investors are
interested in the space again and what
has 2024 looked like for for crypto
businesses that you work with um how has
sentiment or or energy changed compared
to say 2023 when we were coming out of
the FTX drama
I think a lot of it you can really tie
back to the launch of the various
Bitcoin related ETFs that have hit the
market and with that you really kind of
brought in Main Street into the fold
into the crypto world and so 2024 has
definitely been a fairly upbeat year as
it as it has to do with crypto prospects
across the board and folks that we’re
working with but when you bring in the
the Main Street group into the fold I
think that’s been a game Cher for the
industry and so new projects have
definitely kind of Tak flight this year
um in comparison to last year
Jordan one of the things we’re seeing
across the US economy right now are
layoffs here and there and right now
Tech has has been so many of those
layoffs that have been announced um and
when we’re looking at crypto
specifically uh just this week we we
talked about on crypto World yugal Labs
announced layoffs announced a
restructuring um on the other hand we’ve
also reported on crypto world that VC
interest is coming back in crypto so it
it seems like it’s an uncertain or
confusing time um in the space What are
you seeing in terms of uncertainty or or
should we expect more layoffs in crypto
what is what does the uncertainty look
like right now I mean I think a lot of
the uncertainty really kind of came
through with crypto winter and so a lot
of crypto companies and projects are
really operating fairly lean and mean as
it is these days um so if anything my my
guess is that we’re probably at sort of
the bottom cycle um of that as it has to
do with layoffs obviously Tech continues
to sort of see that shift that said I
think crypto likely already went through
it um in that regards and I think just
in general the web 3 crypto space teams
as a whole tend to be run fairly lean as
is and that’s probably benefited the
industry as a whole and when it comes to
do with
that when it comes to Legal challenges
um one of the the first things that
comes to mind is obviously the FTX and
the the the stuff that we were worried
about in 2022 and to 2023 uh as we’re
talking today we’re getting a sentencing
of binance’s former CEO shengping Shia
um obviously we all paid attention to
what happened with FTX but now looking
at the space does that seem sort of in
the rearview mirror less important to
crypto investors or or the types of
things that would have made businesses
more skittish um is that is that out of
the way now are people less concerned I
don’t think it’s out of the way I think
you know trust in general um is huge in
any industry in particular with
customers potential buyers Etc as well
and so I think that’s definitely been a
little bit of a stain if you will on the
crypto industry and that rebuilding
trust is going to be important to do so
and I think again I know the crypto
space doesn’t like to hear this but
regulation as a whole still probably
needs to take a little bit more flight
in this space to get the Main Street
consumer feeling more comfortable to in
many cases invest whether it’s with
their retirement funds you know or you
know extra cash on the table as well
into these projects too and then you’ll
see that again on the VC side as well so
I think trust is going to be earned and
and needed to be rebuilt Jordan in that
regards yeah I’m gonna ask about
regulation in just a second because I
think that’s an important one but I
wonder you know individually with
businesses specifically are there are
there ways that you’re seeing um
businesses that you deal with work on
that rebuilding of trust individually
because we haven’t seen seen any
movement when it comes to regulation how
are they working on it themselves a a
lot of it is transparency and and stems
with just the broader corporate
Communications that are coming out from
the company how are we communicating
with our audiences whether it’s
investors customers vendors Etc and so
you know the crypto space as a whole has
probably been a little bit softer on
that in terms of really kind of in many
cases flying by the seat of their pants
that can’t that can’t happen anymore and
so what we’re seeing is sort of a
fundamental change in terms of the
structure of how crypto and web3 brands
are communicating and again a lot of it
Jordan goes back to the fact that now we
have Main Street really entering The
Fray um one key point that that actually
came up is several I think the the big
differentiator here is now you have a
huge distribution network of financial
advisors that are now able to offer
their clients access access to the
crypto asset class via these ETFs and so
when you’re seeing large financial
institutions dedicating three four five%
of their toal total portfolio to the
crypto space and Bitcoin as as itself
right now that’s a that’s a game Cher
but with that comes a lot of
responsibility from the broader industry
as a whole and so in order to do that
transparency being clear on our
Communications being consistent really
is is going to be an important Trend
going
forward speaking of ETFs and regulation
I think that all goes back to the SEC um
we’re seeing renew challenges against
defi platforms and and the SEC itself
has picked up the pace in terms of of
crypto enforcements in the past year and
a half or so um last year we heard a lot
of talk from crypto businesses about
potentially leaving the us if those
challenges go on if the SEC continues
its stance
looking at it this year though
especially as they’re ramping up La
enforcement action against def5
platforms um have you heard any
conversations about companies or or
organizations saying that that they
would look outside the US at least at
the same volume that we heard it in
2023 not not at the volume of last year
and and I think there’s probably going
to be a a happy dance and balance here
that the SEC and regular Regulators are
going to have to take with with various
crypto Brands I mean I I definitely see
you mentioned on the DC side we’re we’re
seeing small seed series a investments
into various D5 protocols Etc um and it
it is sort of shaping up to be a defi
summer if you will coming out of crypto
winter and so I would say expect the SEC
to continue to really tow the line on
that I know they’ve been ruling by
enforcement pretty consistently on this
but I I think there’ll be an even
balance in that regards kind of going
forward as we look to the the second
half of this year and knowing that an
election is looming too and you have
kind of various political entities sort
of jostling for for you know power in
that regards as
well okay that’s all for crypto world
today we’ll be back again tomorrow and
we’ll see you then
[Music]

CNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what’s ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today’s show, Kevin Dinino, founder and president of KCD PR, discuss how companies are taking advantages of crypto’s 2024 comeback.

Chapters:
00:00 – CNBC Crypto World, April 30, 2024
0:23 – Bitcoin fell
1:05 – The headlines
2:39 – KCD PR’s Kevin Dinino

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Binance founder Changpeng Zhao faces sentencing over money laundering violations: CNBC Crypto World