Changpeng Zhao looks back on a year spent out of prison

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao celebrates his one year anniversary of being released from U.S. prison. He lists down milestones that the crypto community has seen as well as his personal project Giggle Academy.

Summary

• Changpeng Zhao reflects on the past year he spent after being released from prison, highlighting positive changes during the Trump administration and milestones in crypto.
• CZ was convicted for failing to enforce anti-money laundering rules at Binance and served a four-month sentence behind bars.

In a recent post, Changpeng Zhao reflects on the past year that he spent after serving his four-month sentence in a U.S. prison. Zhao highlighted several milestones that he’s seen throughout the year in crypto as well as from his own personal projects and Binance Coin.

“A year (and 2 days) ago, I got out of prison and finally left the US. What a year since then!” said Changpeng Zhao in his latest post.

He praised the U.S. for choosing Donald Trump as president, someone he dubbed as “a pro-crypto President and government, influencing policies all around the world.” Trump’s term brought in a number of pro-crypto initiatives such as the executive order which enabled the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve & U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, the GENIUS Act and many more.

Zhao once stated that he was hoping to get a pardon from President Donald Trump if possible, considering Trump previously granted a pardon to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.

You might also like: Changpeng Zhao aims to make YZi $10b portfolio open to outside investors

Zhao also highlighted the changes made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the new chair, Paul Atkins. He stated that commission is now implementing a new strategy that directly opposes the anti-crypto regime under Gary Gensler which targeted crypto firms.

CZ says the agency is now “reversing its course of regulation-by-enforcement,” rather than bringing on cases involving crypto firms accused of violating regulations based on interpretations that are not explicitly stated in the rules.

Further down, CZ celebrates major tokens like Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC) as well as Binance Coin (BNB) reaching back-to-back all-time highs during a rally that occurred within this year. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum reached new all-time highs in August 2025, with BTC achieving $124,128 and ETH at $4,946 respectively.

Meanwhile, the September rally marked a new chapter for BNB which managed to climb past the $1,000 threshold, reaching $1,079.

Changpeng Zhao’s journey to freedom

More than one year ago, Changpeng Zhao was released from prison two days early after serving a four-month sentence in the United States and paying a fine of $50 million. He was indicted for failing to implement proper anti-money laundering and sanctions regulations at Binance.

On Sept. 28, he shared a good morning post which has garnered more than 20 million views since it was first shared.

The founder of major crypto exchange Binance came out of prison with a renewed sense of purpose, having had no choice but to relinquish his position as Binance CEO. In his first interview in public after being released, Changpeng Zhao said he was interested in pivoting to expand mentorship and support for emerging crypto projects as well as AI, robotics and biotechnology-related ventures.

Although he was no longer CEO of Binance, he took over the helm of family venture capital firm YZi Labs, which was formerly known as Binance Labs. The firm plans to open its $10 billion portfolio up to external investors someday.

As for his other personal project, the education initiative Giggle Academy has grown into a program that has raised more than $4 million in donations alone within less than a week. CZ claimed that the project has provided free education for at least 50,000 children enrolled in the program.

Giggle Academy is described as a non-profit learning platform founded by Changpeng Zhao with the goal of making basic education free as well as engaging and adaptive worldwide. It reportedly includes traditional subjects such as reading, writing, math, science plus more modern topics like finance, blockchain, AI, entrepreneurship, emotional intelligence.

Read more: CZ talks about making friends in prison in new interview

Source