Binance CEO: 4 Months in Prison, $4 Billion Fine, and What Comes Next
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
CZ's father went to Canada to study in 1984, five years before Tiananmen Square. He was a professor in China, participated in an exchange program at University of Toronto, then moved to UBC in Vancouver. Family applied for Chinese passports in 1985, took 2-3 years to get them, then additional years for visas. They arrived shortly after 1989. Post-Tiananmen, new passports became harder but visas easier, which helped them.
At age 12, CZ was living on a university campus (China Science and Technology University, one of top four in China). Subconsciously impacted by discussions on democracy among older students.
Vancouver was completely different: nice greenery, open space, high living standard, clean, bigger fruits. CZ studied English in school but was not fluent.
Father was assistant professor at UBC, earned $1,000 CAD/month stipend, lived in low-cost faculty housing on campus. Mother, a math and history teacher in China, worked at a sewing factory for minimum wage for 7-10 years on third day of arrival.
CZ got first job at McDonald's at 14 or 15, flipping burgers. Minimum wage in BC was $6, but McDonald's paid $4.50 due to exemption for young kids. Had both Asian and Caucasian friends, unlike most Asians who stuck together. Teenager years in Canada were the best, shaped him to be a happy person.
Not a precocious coding kid; interested in programming in high school, decent coder but not a genius. Wrote code for first 8 years of career, then shifted to business development, sales around age 28-30.
Decided between Waterloo (sister went there), McGill, UToronto; UBC offered but wanted different city. Friend's mother suggested studying biology for doctor lifestyle, went to McGill (not strong biology school). Switched to computer science after one semester.
Worked every summer and part-time during school year, no student debt. First year took $6,000 CAD from dad, second year $3,000 from sister, then self-sustainable. Canadian tuition cheaper than US even for international students.
Did not graduate from McGill: after four years, extended internship in third year, never returned. Later got online bachelor's from American College of Computer Science (2000s, dot-com height) for Japan work visa.
First-year college: programming job at Original Sim writing simulation software. Third year: internship at Fusion Systems Japan in Tokyo (American company), writing order execution systems for Tokyo Stock Exchange brokers.
Living in Tokyo was fun, like the future. Software involved no decision-making, focused on efficiency, low latency: in-memory processing, no database lookups, simplified pre-trade risk checks, FPGA for network card to avoid memory round-trips (100 microseconds to 20 microseconds), collocation, physical infrastructure.
Company sold to NASDAQ-listed firm for $52 million pre-2000. Culture clashes post-acquisition. Partners started new company (Building Two) with fancy office, zero revenue, folded in a year (2001).
Early 2001, got Bloomberg offer in New York pre-9/11, confirmed post-9/11, moved November 2001. Streets quiet initially but lively soon. Worked four years on Tradebook Futures team (collected spread-out futures trading system).
Joined as senior developer (age 24-25), promoted three times in two years, led team from 60 to 80 people, stopped coding, became manager. Fancy offices, fish tanks, free food. Sought stability, experience, not ready for entrepreneurship.
2005, same Japan friends pitched fintech startup in Asia (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong; picked Shanghai). Six people: five Caucasians/Japanese plus CZ (only Chinese speaker). Idea: bring Wall Street trading tech to China for brokers/exchanges.
Equity: top guy 39-40%, rest five split equally (~11% for CZ). No knowledge of preferred/common stock, shareholder rights.
Registered as Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE), but Chinese brokers couldn't work with them. Pivoted to work-for-hire: any IT (fix printers, SAP implementations).
Clients: automotive (Shanghai General Motors, Shanghai Works Wagon, Shanghai First Automotive). Later offices in Hong Kong, clients Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse. Grew to 200 people, still around. CZ left after 8 years (2013), mostly Shanghai but set up HK office, Tokyo work.
Junior partner: invested savings back, no cash out initially. Later stable six-figure salaries for international schools. Married in New York.
CZ had two kids. Met his ex-wife in Tokyo in 1999ish during his internship. She visited him in New York, they got married, had kids, now separated or divorced in Shanghai. Salary was enough to put kids into international school.
Nothing indicated he was about to start Binance. In 2013-2014, he was 36, mid-30s, junior partner, career going well, kids in private school.
Came across Bitcoin in 2013. Friend told him to look into it. Took roughly six months to fully understand, from July 2013. Read the Bitcoin white paper multiple times. Used BitcoinTalk forum.
Interviewer wrote a Bloomberg op-ed in 2012 recommending everyone put 1% of their net worth into Bitcoin, calling it "schmuck insurance." Published in Bloomberg terminal. Got redpilled on Bitcoin as the most interesting technical product. Bitcoin white paper is elegantly written, non-technical prose, understandable by non-experts, only 9 pages.
Friend who showed it: Ron Tao, runs Skyline Ventures now, was managing director at Lightseed Ventures in China. Met through poker games with struggling entrepreneurs vs VCs, small stakes, fun game.
During one poker game, Ron said CZ should look at Bitcoin. Bobby Lee, quitting Walmart to become CEO of BTC China, brought Ron/Lightseed in as investor. Had lunch with Bobby next day; Bobby advised putting 10% of net worth into Bitcoin (small chance to zero, higher chance 10x).
Started reading white paper carefully. Convinced by end of 2013. Bitcoin went from $70 mid-2013 to $1,000 end-2013, over 15x. Felt too late, but always feel late in Bitcoin because everyone bought before you.
Small Bitcoin community in Shanghai. Talked to people worldwide. Friends in Taiwan who left TSMC to do Bitcoin mining chip startup (didn't take off). Another group of miners. "Fish" (Silver Fish) in China, big miner, runs F2Pool today, based in Hongru.
December 13th 2013ish, flew to Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas (~200 people). Vitalik, Matt Roszak, Charlie Lee there. Same core people still in industry today. Just before, Silk Road arrest of Ross Ulbricht; media said Bitcoin for drug lords. Conference was geeks and nice people.
Still working at job, told partners going to Vegas for couple days. Back, suggested building Bitcoin payment system like BitPay (raised $4M in 2013, big player).
Interviewer stories: Bought car with Bitcoin via BitPay in 2012/13 at local dealership. Bought real estate in Martis Camp, Lake Tahoe via BitPay; Wall Street Journal covered it. Land now worth a billion.
Told partners this is biggest thing in life. Saw internet (too young), now Bitcoin at 35-36, won't miss it. Next is AI 10-15 years later. Three fundamental technologies in life.
Quit to work in Bitcoin industry. Needed to buy Bitcoin but lacked money, sold Shanghai apartment for ~$900K (just under $1M). Family moved to Tokyo, lived in rental; he traveled from Shanghai, start of separation.
Sold in tranches: first at $800/BTC, dropping to $600, $400, averaged $600. Now had Bitcoin position, jobless but looking specifically in Bitcoin industry. Gap from quit to job: 2-3 weeks.
Discussed with BTCC/Bobby Lee first. Then blockchain.info; bumped into Roger Ver. Joined as third person: Ben Reeves (founder), Nicholas Cary (CEO). CZ as VP Engineering (reserved CTO for Ben). Flew to York, 3 hours north of London.
Expanded to 18 people. Peter Smith joined as CFO to raise money (Coinbase raised $30M). Peter became CEO, Nicholas to product manager. Culture changed; CZ and developers he hired left. Ben Reeves sold position, left months later. CZ there 6-7 months.
Learnings: No office, all remote, paid in Bitcoin (still used at Binance). blockchain.info grew to 2M wallets (more than Coinbase) via one 150-page thread on bitcointalk.org by Ben Reeves. Guerrilla marketing works.
Left, OKCoin hired as CTO (experience in order execution/exchanges). BTC China offered 10% equity, OKCoin matched in 3 hours. Chose Beijing over Shanghai. Huobi had 1% equity at time? Wait, OKCoin. Bigger partner in business. Lasted ~8 months, mostly 2014-early 2015.
Culture differences: promotions, fee discounts advertised but had to ask (not applied to all).
Early 2015, left with old colleagues to do Bitcoin exchange in Tokyo, Japan (post-Mt. Gox vacuum). Two developers quit jobs same day, joined him. CZ CEO with more equity, responsible for raising; paid them from savings, took nothing himself.
Whipped up demo: forked open-source exchange software, tweaked UI, hooked to Bitfinex market data for live order book/trades. Transparent it was proof-of-concept made in few days.
Answered deep questions: in-memory matching, optimizing database.
Investors: tech cool, but won't succeed in Japan without Japanese. Suggested selling tech to Japanese exchanges (poor tech). Two weeks later, signed contract for $360K; down payment $180K (no more salaries needed). Pivoted to exchange systems provider, selling software.
July 2015, Chinese companies wanted systems. Licensed to 30 different exchange clients over two years. SaaS/"exchange as a service," fixed monthly fee per client. Steady, scalable revenue.
March 2017, Chinese gov shut down most clients. Software vendor untouched (not running exchanges), but lost clients by May. Pivoted.
Three employees wanted Poloniex copycat; CZ declined to invest. Then onchain chat trading; no. Decided to do own crypto-to-crypto exchange using existing system (customize for c2c).
Team: 20 people (tech-heavy, 2 sales + CZ).
End May 2017: launch own exchange.
June 1-10 2017, BTC co-founder Link ran ICO in China, raised $15M in 10 days with just whitepaper/website, no product.
CZ: if he can, I can. Originally planned VC funding ($1M for team/marketing). Mid-June 2017 conference, everyone said do ICO. June 14th, decided: ICO, write whitepaper.
Had name in community: from blockchain.info (most popular platform), OKCoin CTO, active on social media, managed international non-Chinese/English markets.
CZ had the best English skills in his team, giving him a name in the community. Early involvement in the industry helped: attending conferences with 200 people meant quick recognition as an expert. Link, known for ICO in China, wasn't internationally recognized; CZ had both local and international reputation, so he decided to do an ICO to raise the same amount.
ICO Buyers and Demographics
Buyers of Binance ICO: unknown even today. Demographics: 80-90% Chinese, some international. About 20,000 people bought in for a brand new brand, based on CZ's industry reputation.
Exchanges served were mostly fiat-to-crypto, not crypto exchanges. Crypto exchanges banned in September 2017; ICO started June-July 2017, ICOs not banned yet. Threading the needle before the ban.
No equity sold, just launched BNB token (still exists today). Sold 60% for $15 million (tokening bitcoins). Original tokenomics: hold BNB for 50% fee discounts on Binance trades; eventually own chain, decentralized ecosystem (3-4 things promised).
Post-ICO China Ban Response
Ecstatic after raising $15M, then September 4, 2017: seven Chinese government departments banned crypto exchanges, ICOs, mining. Moved operations: China was 30% user base, 70% rest of world—could survive by cutting China. Moved to Tokyo (CZ familiar, in/out before). Team of 30, mostly single/no kids, easy move. One product manager cried over boyfriend in China but moved.
Platform continued growing post-move.
Product growing well, BNB price dropped 30-40% from ICO for 3 weeks, then recovered. Crypto hot in 2017, product-market fit there (crypto-to-crypto exchange). ICO critical: buyers wanted fee discounts, chose Binance. Architected better: visibly faster order placement than competitors.
2017 Competitors
Poloniex, Bittrex (biggest); Chinese: Huobi, OKEx, OKCoin; Western: Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex (now small).
Late 30s/40s, surreal moments: revenue couple hundred bitcoins—double/triple-checked, correct. BNB ICO at 10 cents, dropped to 6 cents, recovered after HODLing announcement: up 20% constantly (sleep, meetings, bathroom). Rich realization early 2018 (6-8 months in). Forbes cover then.
Forbes Cover Story
Forbes crypto edition, had CZ picture. PR team (4-5 girls) pushed: good for new brand awareness. First photoshoot/makeup.
Money matters but not everything. At 40s, stable personality, no Lambos/parties. Went from barely financially free to Forbes billionaire overnight—no stepwise habits (economy to business class only when suggested). Now deca/centibillionaire depending on day—means little. Money for: 1) basics (food/shelter, minimal amount); 2) comfortable (not luxury) life. House: old, leaks monthly (fix when happens), right size/location, bought third/fourth hand, functional. Function-driven, not fancy/style/glitter.
No bouts of insecurity: knows weaknesses, deals with them, not arrogant. Calm, self-regulated, narrow emotional amplitude vs. others' highs/lows. Manages success (illusory, toil unseen).
Addicted to work (satisfying/rewarding), not growth. 20+ meetings/day + Twitter/responses. Fulfillment hard to describe, not money/growth.
North Star Metrics
Daily active users (DAU), not volume/revenue (lagging). More users = value created/provided, even at zero revenue. Long-term: large user base creates value for all. Users pay fees because higher value given. Double-edged: some DAU bad actors.
New Year's Eve/January 1, 2018 (5-6 months in, #1 exchange): US Homeland Security (Joseph/Patrick) emailed for help tracking EtherDelta hack funds (2017 DEX hack). Team huddled, verified identity, provided info. Asked for law enforcement interface hire recommendation (US-based, couldn't hire—no US entity). Realized need for compliance expertise.
Later Compliance and US Entity
Hired more compliance. Biden admin claims: groups like Hamas used Binance, not enough done (legal restrictions on plea details). Biden hostile to crypto (declared war); new admin 180° good. Hostility: fear of new, protect banks, lobbying.
2019: News on BitMEX, Bitfinex (Poland froze $600-800M of $4B market cap; US sued for reserves). Registered Binance.US: separate entity/deployment/matching engine/liquidity, regulated from day one.
2019-2021 generally good. Met SBF January 2019 Singapore conference (Binance-organized). FTX not exist yet; SBF ran Alameda (VIP Binance trader), hosted aquarium afterparty with divers holding ETC signs.
Alameda proposed futures JV (60/40 their favor); CZ considered 95/5 but declined (polite, VIP client). Summer: better offer, declined. November: FTX launched with volume, offered 20% equity + BNB/FTT token swap (BNB more liquid). Invested 20% equity, exited 1 year later.
Post-deal: SBF badmouthed in US/Washington; paid 5x salary to poach Binance VIP account manager with VIP database access.
If we match that girl then we have to 5x everybody. Go work for them and the day after the girl goes to work for them, our VIP clients get called saying they will get a better rate on FTX. Called Sam to stop doing this. We're your shareholder. He proposed a one-to-one panel on a crypto event. Fine, as an investor, want to help promote it. Want multiple exchanges to be successful so Binance wouldn't be the ones targeted all the time. But there was always bad mouthing. A year later, mid-early 2021, FTX claiming to raise money at $32 billion valuations. Decided to exit. Investment clause had veto rights on any future rounds, could block them but didn't want to. Exited in July 2021, deal finalized and transfer done, a full year and a half before their issues. Rumors that issues started after selling and were conjoined are categorically not true. As a shareholder, never asked for financial statements, passive investor, didn't get involved in their business. They had a futures platform, Binance had one, stayed hands-off.
Post-FTX, discussions on suboptimal restitution for cash holders and value of investments. Don't understand bankruptcy process fully, read complaints online about Chinese users not eligible, but now with crypto appreciation in US dollar terms, they have enough. Even if people held crypto back then, they might have gotten more. Ongoing lawsuit from estate trying to claw back money received a year and a half before, limited comments possible.
Things got complicated with US government information requests in 2021-2022, always complied. Late 2022 more hostile, early 2023 clear: reach a deal or face indictment, became negotiations.
No legal background, relied on others' advice. No one has experience on receiving end, go through it once and never want to again. Organizing lawyers tricky: expensive lawyers with different specialties, all different opinions, want to seem smartest, paid by time spent, go in different tangents. Team young, legal team lacked experience with this type of issue. Team spread out everywhere, in 2023 in Dubai/Abu Dhabi. Dealt with stress by looking at best/worst case scenarios: best - pay fine, get DPA, over; worst - jail, or fight it and stay in UAE (non-extradition, has citizenship), limited travel, creates noise and pressure on UAE government, don't want to trouble them, or indicted and red notice list.
Daily calls with 12-20 lawyers for more than a year of back and forth with Biden DOJ. Lawyers said never seen them this hostile. Became desensitized over successive steps. Tough steps: say no to deal terms, they wouldn't back off, weeks of purgatory not knowing if indicted. Mentally prepared for life in one country, careful travel, possible sealed indictment. They come back after two weeks to negotiate - useful tactic, silence optimal at two weeks before you get used to it. They're skilled at mental pressure, do this daily.
Agreed to single charge of Bank Secrecy Act violation (registration failure, federal crime, no one went to jail historically). Disclaimer: layman understanding.
- Level 1: Bank Secrecy Act violation - serviced US users without registering as financial services company.
- Level 2: Inadequate KYC/AML procedures (not black/white, details on systems, staff, SOPs).
- Level 3: Knowingly facilitated bad transactions (weak AML doesn't catch all, but not intentional).
- Level 4: Personally handling transactions (e.g., Charlie Shrem for Silk Road/Ross).
Didn't handle transactions personally. Agreed on layers 1-2 for single charges. Government wanted enhancements (layers 3-4), claimed personal facilitation without evidence, court rejected them outright. Before going to US, agreed to argue in court. Compared to Arthur Hayes (BitMEX, 6 months home confinement, more direct client interactions); CZ had less direct involvement, deals with users on Twitter not backend.
Landed in America, stayed in downtown Seattle hotel. Sister and mom joined, not kids (school) or partner (business). First day: plea hearing, judge asks if understand paragraphs (pre-negotiated by lawyers). Then bail debate: lawyers argued return to UAE for 3 months pre-sentencing; government wanted stay in US (no community harm, free movement). Magistrate judge approved leaving, government appealed (lawyer: never seen in 40 years, would piss off court in favor). Two weeks later, court ruled for government, kept in US 3 months away from home. Free to travel US, stayed with sister sometimes, traveled to stay chill. Government requested another 3 months extension. Didn't see kids for a year.
April 30, 2024 sentencing date. Week before, submissions: government requested 36 months (twice max guideline), court never seen ignore guidelines. Lawyers said judge would split the baby (probation to 36 months = in between). 5 days before (April 25), Senator Elizabeth Warren declared war on crypto, open letter to DOJ (mostly incorrect).
April 30: Judge said good things, then "but". April 3: Lawyers debated, enhancements rejected. Lawyers argued probation/home confinement; government 36 months. Judge sentenced 4 months.
Difficult at first due to uncertainty. Media called richest person to go to US prison. Prison consultants (ex-guards/wardens, ex-inmates working there) said high-profile = prime extortion target, safety issue. Advice: don't take from overly friendly first-day inmates (ask 10x favors back or stab). US prison system vast: 2 million inmates, spends more on prisons than education, 50 states different systems, federal prisons like mini-cities (his had 2200 inmates). Advice not always useful, just face it.
Sentencing April 30, don't know prison immediately. Court makes two recommendations, wait for letter. Judge ruled no supervision (unique), just wait for letter to self-surrender.
Government requested pre-mandated detention with handcuffs for PR photo, but judge ruled he's not a risk, not a flight risk, not a risk to society. Judge added he does not need supervision, eliminating probation or parole after sentence.
Nothing too bad happened—no physical harm, fights, or extortion. Prison consultants advised: don't join gangs, stay to yourself, be quiet, stay out of sight. Upon entering, guard immediately said, "you're going to need some protection here, Pacific Islanders are hiring, you might want to join them."
First day involved extensive processing including strip search, then assignment to unit with 200 inmates: three rows of 20 cells each, three floors, common area on bottom. Prisons organized by race/ethnicity to avoid conflicts—Chinese with Chinese, whites with whites, blacks with Mexicans/Spanish. Arabs grouped separately due to prayer schedules. This reduces fighting as people get along better with own ethnicity culturally.
Each group has reps like union reps who hash out inter-group problems peacefully. Half-Asian looking dude named Chino welcomed him: "welcome to our group, welcome to our car." Chino is Filipino-German mix. Asians grouped broadly including Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Hawaiians—only 6 people in his group out of 200.
Sent to low-security prison (eligible for minimum-security where white-collar criminals go) because non-US citizen; low-security houses drug offenders.
First things: good shower and meal. Prison showers tiny box with saloon door covering middle—legs and head visible, hard to shower without touching walls. Post-release shower without touching walls is luxury.
Prison food: limited fruits, protein, veggies; mostly carbs, bread, flour, fried stuff. No whole fruits for months; seeing plate of fruit post-release was luxury.
Left prison, took 26 minutes from prison door to airplane, flew to UAE.
Emotionally wanted it over. Released September 27, 2024 (entered May 30, 2024) under Biden administration pre-election; uncertain about US policy continuity. Hadn't seen kids in a year. Expected anti-crypto policies to persist.
Okay with not running Binance per plea deal—stepping down was hard, cried like when father passed. Now has free time, not seen as lacking stamina since court-ordered. Can pursue meaningful things with resources for projects/businesses like free education.
No formal process. Hire lawyer to write petition arguing over-prosecution, good character. Pardon erases convictions, restores pre-conviction status.
Constitution grants president pardon power with minimal detail; discretionary based on social norms. Historically on last day; Biden did pre-pardons including son for unspecified period.
Alice Johnson (pardon czar, ex-prisoner, wrote book) in White House. Lawyers ping for status—no updates, then suddenly granted. Not fixed process.
Didn't do much to get it. As UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) of Binance and Binance US, pardon enables proper US entry. US needs largest liquidity pool and ecosystem for crypto capital status. President pro-crypto, experienced debanking and 34 criminal charges (one for bringing document to bathroom to read); sympathizes with DOJ aggression.
Giggle Academy (free education platform). Consults governments on sound crypto regulations. Investments in blockchain, AI, biotech via CZ Labs team. Mentors/coaches founders in blockchain ecosystem.
700-800 million illiterate adults (2/3 women), 500 million kids not in school = 1.2 billion (12-13% world population), mostly poor areas without schools or unable to afford.
Current schools average students out, not great. Giggle: phone/tablet app using gaming, psychology, AI for all education content, free.
Alpha School great but high cost; their software Timeback. Met founders/execs—they improve existing education; Giggle makes accessible (hopefully better).
No schools wanted—one app for all. Gamified, reward-oriented with badges. Resists token to avoid speculation/farming; wants real learning, not crypto gimmick. Community donated $12M from memecoin (spent $3-4M so far); hard to give away money positively. Will fund to fully digitized, gamified education goal.
AI embeddings as machine-readable language rich for agents—query, traverse for productivity. Agents will transact (pay cents for podcast, buy tickets, book restaurants/hotels) at millions of times human volume/rate. Banks can't onboard/AML/KYC agents or handle speed. Future interface: voice commands like "convert 10% stablecoins to BNB"—agent handles details.
No single viable payment system yet; many crypto projects working on it, especially AI agent social networks.
Privacy fundamental. Bitcoin/most cryptos lack it—pseudo-anonymous design failed due to traceable blockchain + KYC exchanges.
Fungibility issue holds Bitcoin from ubiquity. Everyday uses (gum, movie, video game, cigarettes) need it; dollars fungible/anonymous.
Real cases: hotel booking via blockchain address reveals location/physical security risk (like not publicizing home addresses; illegal in Japan to reveal others'). Law enforcement can track bad guys even with privacy.
Industry must evolve privacy features; few privacy coins exist but low market cap.
Started drafting in prison on dumb terminal to stay busy, sent to assistant. Now 95,000 words (~300 pages), editing English/Chinese versions—takes weeks per pass. Boredom, catharsis, tell story, make point.
The book aims to get the story out and address misconceptions about CZ, Binance, and the crypto industry, as well as negative media around Trump and the party. The book provides CZ's perspective on who he is and, by extension, Binance.
Importance for Children
The story is important for CZ's children. They are on his side and aware of inaccurate media, but the book offers detailed explanation beyond what he can convey verbally. It contains as much detail as possible.
Wishes for Children
CZ wants his kids to live a healthy and happy life however they define it—whether as a normal person, startup founder, artist, or in humanitarian efforts. He wants to support whatever they choose.
CZ's parents were similar: no pressure to become specific professions like doctor, engineer, or lawyer. They told him: "Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt other people." This meant avoid drugs, crime, and harming others.
Many people think "that could have been me." Success is glorified as impregnable or quixotic, but CZ is a normal guy. Spending time with him reveals this normalcy. Working on things you like makes time pass quickly, leading to new opportunities to try and learn.
Message to Aspiring People
CZ emphasizes he is a normal dude, not super smart—success doesn't require being super smart (though not too dumb). Key factors include principles, values, emotional quotient, and luck.
Most people can't change their situation, so change yourself: push a little every day to 110-130% capacity without burning out, sustaining for 30 years. With luck, you'll achieve relative success and a comfortable life, even if not billionaire status.
Being a billionaire is not everything it's cracked up to be. Money is one thread in a spiderweb graph of life. Once you have enough, more doesn't help.
Other essential threads:
- Health
- Family
- Values and positive impact (intrinsic rewards)
- Time (using it as you want, on desired work and people)
- Family health (a huge gift if all healthy)
- Mental health (dealing with pressure; CZ is lucky with a stable mind)
All can be improved, not just money. Chasing only money sacrifices everything else: no free time, no family, deteriorating health after 10-20 years, without even enjoying the process.
CZ is grateful not to run Binance anymore, gaining more time. Previously, despite enjoyment, he scored poorly on other life aspects.
Thanks for joining the podcast. "Thank you for having me. I'm going all in."
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