CZ Responds to $4.3 Billion Fine: Took One for the Team, Worth It

BlockBeats News, September 1st, Binance founder CZ recently attended Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong and gave an interview. He revealed that most of the 374-page draft of his autobiography "The CZ Story" was completed in prison, where he could only use a computer for 15 minutes at a time, with no copy-paste function, requiring him to queue multiple times to write during bits of free time.

CZ stated that the most torturous part of his imprisonment was not the writing environment, but the persistent "uncertainty." The fine amount increased from $800 million to $4.3 billion, and his sentence changed from the originally expected house arrest to 4 months in prison. During his sentence, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued three detention orders, with the final one occurring when he had only 14 days left in his sentence.

Regarding Binance's payment of a $4.3 billion fine in 2023, his personal payment of a $150 million fine, and his resignation as CEO, CZ said that this at least took on a significant event for the industry. He believed that in the context of FTX's collapse and Bitcoin dropping to $16,000, if Binance did not bear the consequences, Binance and the entire industry could be severely affected. Therefore, "bearing it was cost-effective for the entire industry," and he believed it was worthwhile.

CZ also mentioned that his prison experience made his belief in "financial freedom" even stronger but also made him realize how fragile real-world freedom is. He believed that there is no 100% freedom, and society still needs constraints. The key is to enhance the degree of freedom as much as possible without compromising safety and the rights of others.