Recently, Zhao Changpeng, the former richest man in China, has once again become the focus of public attention.

After being slapped with a staggering fine of 7.2 billion USD (equivalent to over 50 billion RMB) by the United States in 2023, Zhao Changpeng faced legal sanctions from the U.S. again in 2024, resulting in a four-month prison sentence.

This judgment, compared to the previously rumored 10-year sentence, seems quite lenient, leading one to speculate whether the U.S. has shown some "mercy" towards Zhao Changpeng.

However, in reality, this was in exchange for a fine of up to 4.32 billion USD that Zhao Changpeng paid to the United States.

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As the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, Zhao Changpeng once topped the list of the richest Chinese people with a net worth of over 570 billion in 2021.

Now, he is set to become incarcerated, making him the wealthiest prisoner in the world.

Born in the 1970s, Zhao Changpeng has shown exceptional learning talent since childhood, standing out among his peers.

Both of his parents are intellectuals, and to provide him with a better learning environment, they immigrated to Canada with their family in 1989.

In the first year after immigration, his father spared no expense, spending a month's salary to buy Zhao Changpeng his first computer, thus introducing him to the fascinating field of computing for the first time.Ever since then, Zhao Changpeng developed a strong interest in computers and began to self-study programming.

After graduating from high school, he successfully entered the prestigious McGill University in Canada to study the emerging field of computer science.

During his time at university, he not only excelled academically but also showed a strong sense of independence.

To hone his skills, Zhao Changpeng served as a referee in volleyball matches, worked night shifts at gas stations, and even worked at McDonald's.

As graduation approached in 1997, Zhao Changpeng had already begun to plan his future career direction.

Considering that computer technology in Asian countries was still in its infancy at the time, and Japan was relatively more advanced, he chose to work at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan.

The main content of Zhao Changpeng's work involved participating in the design of the trading order information system for the stock exchange and the American Bloomberg, as well as developing futures trading software.

Zhao Changpeng performed exceptionally well in this job, but Japan's "overtime culture" and the cutthroat nature of the workplace were very uncomfortable for him, who was accustomed to freedom from a young age. It wasn't long before he switched to work at Bloomberg in New York.

It turns out that talent shines everywhere.

Zhao Changpeng has participated in managing Bloomberg's technical teams in Tokyo, London, and New Jersey, all achieving quite remarkable results.Due to his exceptional work performance, Zhao Changpeng was promoted three levels in two years and became the Technical Director before the age of thirty, reaching a height that many people never achieve in their entire lives.

However, for Zhao Changpeng, being the Technical Director at Bloomberg was just a stepping stone; he could not envision a lifetime of working for others.

In the early 21st century, China's economy officially entered the fast lane after more than two decades of reform and opening up. The investment market, with its boundless potential, attracted a large number of talents to return to their homeland for development, and Zhao Changpeng was one of them.

In 2005, Zhao Changpeng resigned from his position as Technical Director, brought his ambitions and savings to the metropolis of Shanghai, and founded Fuxun Information. He made a fortune by developing efficient and convenient trading systems for securities firms.

Just as Zhao Changpeng was making a killing, three years later, a person named Satoshi Nakamoto invented Bitcoin.

In 2014, Qian Zhimin founded "Blue Sky Gre Electronic Technology Company," claiming that the return rates of the company's more than a dozen financial products were extremely high. In a short period, it attracted 130,000 people to follow suit.

Subsequently, Qian Zhimin transferred the 43 billion yuan of customer funds into a cryptocurrency trading account, exchanged it for Bitcoin, and then absconded with the funds, plunging countless families into a catastrophic disaster.

This is the true face of Bitcoin: while some fortunate and quick-thinking individuals can get rich from it, ordinary people simply cannot navigate its complexities.

Zhao Changpeng is undoubtedly one of the former.In 2013, Zhao Changpeng met a cryptocurrency magnate while playing cards. Upon hearing that trading cryptocurrencies could yield huge profits, he sold his apartment in Shanghai and invested the entire 7 million yuan from the sale into Bitcoin.

At that time, property prices in Shanghai were soaring, while the outlook for Bitcoin was not particularly clear, leading many to believe that Zhao Changpeng's decision to sell his property to trade in cryptocurrencies was not a wise one.

However, Zhao Changpeng is a person with strong convictions. When Bitcoin was least favored, he again went against popular opinion and used a portion of his savings to purchase more Bitcoin.

By 2016, the price of Bitcoin had skyrocketed, with one Bitcoin valued at $10,000, and Zhao Changpeng made a fortune once again!

Previously, through the introduction of his close female friend He Yi, Zhao Changpeng had left his own startup to work at the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin, founded by another cryptocurrency magnate, Xu Mingxing, where he accumulated considerable experience in the crypto world.

Later, due to business disputes with the company and having made a significant profit from trading cryptocurrencies, Zhao Changpeng decided to leave OKCoin and founded Binance Technology.

However, the trading platform under Binance Technology quickly became a haven for stamp collection scams, leading many people to lose their fortunes, and as a result, Binance Technology was ordered to shut down.

Zhao Changpeng has never been one to give up easily. In 2017, the trend of cryptocurrency trading in China was still strong, but many people lacked channels to purchase cryptocurrencies.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Changpeng established a Bitcoin trading company called "Binance," which specializes in providing a trading platform for Bitcoin and earns substantial transaction fees.

Within ten days of its establishment, Binance secured 15 million yuan in financing. In less than three months, it had acquired millions of users, with profits exceeding 7.5 million USD and an annual transaction volume reaching 10 billion USD.Without any unexpected incidents, Zhao Changpeng could have easily become a life winner through Binance, but in China, Zhao Changpeng and his enterprise were doomed to be unable to establish themselves.

The inherent risks of Bitcoin are extremely high, leading many blindly investing ordinary people to lose their entire fortunes, hence the central bank issued a notice, declaring such activities to be illegal.

Seeing the situation was not good, Zhao Changpeng immediately packed up and went to Japan.

There are also many people playing with Bitcoin abroad, and these people are also in urgent need of a new platform for trading coins, and the timing of Binance's appearance was just right.

Starting from 2018, Zhao Changpeng has been thriving abroad, and at its peak, Binance sometimes had a daily trading volume of up to 10 billion US dollars!

In 2021, Zhao Changpeng topped the list of the richest Chinese people in 2021 with a net worth of more than 570 billion.

At this moment, Zhao Changpeng, lying in a pile of money, did not realize that there was a pair of eyes greedily watching him.

On the surface, Zhao Changpeng seems to be shining brightly, but in fact, he also has his own unspeakable hardships.

Because of the special attributes of cryptocurrency and the real harm it has caused to ordinary people, countries around the world do not recognize the legality of Bitcoin.

During Zhao Changpeng's time in Japan, the Japanese financial regulatory authorities once announced that Binance violated the Japanese Fund Settlement Law, forcing Zhao Changpeng to develop in Malta.This implies that once the country where Zhao Changpeng resides takes a hard stance against Bitcoin, he would have to lead his team to another country to settle down. As a result, Binance does not have a headquarters and has been operating in a nomadic manner across various countries for the long term.

However, compared to the United States, these countries are insignificant.

At the beginning of 2023, the United States announced that Zhao Changpeng's Binance platform was suspected of money laundering and other crimes, demanding that Zhao Changpeng come to the U.S. to face penalties.

At that time, Zhao Changpeng was in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. Therefore, as long as he did not admit to his crimes, the U.S. could not do much to him for the time being.

But the U.S. was clearly not going to let the matter rest, intending not only to impose fines but also to potentially sentence Zhao Changpeng to one year and six months in prison.

In response, Zhao Changpeng began to seek legal counsel to protect himself. However, the U.S. side stated that if Zhao Changpeng came to the U.S. to pay the fine, he could be granted bail, with the condition that he would be allowed to return to the UAE during the bail period.

Zhao Changpeng ultimately chose to go to the U.S., admitted to the money laundering charges, and obediently paid a fine of $4.36 billion.

He thought that by paying the fine, he could return home, but on November 27, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a document stating that Zhao Changpeng was suspected of involvement in a large-scale murder, and the U.S. would prohibit his return to the UAE.

On December 18, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced an additional fine of $2.85 billion against Zhao Changpeng.

For a trip to the U.S., he easily lost over 50 billion RMB, and knowing what he knows now, Zhao Changpeng might as well have stayed in the UAE and fought it out to the end.Since we're already here, we might as well follow local customs.

However, the United States is still unwilling to let go of the lucrative prey at its mouth. In April, the U.S. side claimed that since Zhao Changpeng admitted to money laundering charges, he should face legal punishment.

On April 30th, Zhao Changpeng was sentenced to four months in prison, which was of course in exchange for a fine of 4.3 billion U.S. dollars; otherwise, he would still be facing a long prison term.

Despite being heavily fleeced by the Americans, Zhao Changpeng still possesses a fortune of nearly 240 billion, ranking on the global rich list.

Although he cannot be the world's richest man, Zhao Changpeng's wealth is more than enough to dominate the prison, and he could be considered the wealthiest person in the history of the world's prisons.

Throughout his life, Zhao Changpeng has been striving to move forward; he has never been willing to let others control his destiny, always harboring greater dreams and ambitions.

Facts have proven that he has succeeded, yet his business has always been in the shadows.

Now, Zhao Changpeng will be imprisoned, which is also a form of punishment from the heavens. Undoubtedly, the prison disaster will have some impact on his career and life.

However, even a camel that dies from being overburdened is bigger than a horse. The wealth Zhao Changpeng currently possesses is still enough for him to spend for several lifetimes.

Perhaps after being released from prison, Zhao Changpeng will continue his cryptocurrency trading business, becoming a wealthy person who is always on the move, ready to be fleeced at any time, and wandering among various countries.Please provide the text you would like translated into English.