Freedom is expensive. The latest price I heard for it was 4.3 billion US dollars.

Original author: bb0x1, BlockBeats

Freedom is expensive. The last time I heard about its price, it was 4.3 billion US dollars.

Amidst the buzz surrounding Binance today, what caught my attention the most was not the amount of the fine nor the charges imposed by the US Department of Justice, but rather the photo of CZ appearing in Seattle, USA.

This should be the first time CZ has set foot on North American soil after Binance became a crypto giant.

For CZ, who was born in Jiangsu, grew up in Canada, and started a business in Shanghai, the air in Dubai is still too dry.

Behind every story of returning to one's homeland is a sense of sadness.

A friend of mine who used to be a senior executive at an exchange resigned earlier this year. During our long conversation, the most impressive thing he said to me was that he hadn't been back to the mainland for four years and finally had the chance to come back and take a look.

Over the past four years, he has missed the birth of new life in his family, the passing of his elders, and 16 seasons of memories related to family affection.

However, there are still many people who cannot erase the sadness of returning to their homeland. In the past year, in Singapore, I have met many "entrepreneurs" in various occasions and coincidences.

For those who do one-on-one live streaming, they claim to be in the social industry; for those who develop local chess and card apps, they claim to be in the gaming industry. In addition, due to the recent fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, with the US dollar and Japanese yen taking turns in the spotlight, many new foreign exchange platforms have obtained so-called "foreign exchange licenses" in Turkey or Australia and have started conducting foreign exchange trading business online. They have all made a lot of money, but they can never go back to their hometowns.

When a person's wealth reaches a certain level, a new hierarchy of disdain is formed, and "being able to appear on the surface" becomes the key in this chain.

When it comes to global pornographic websites, only Pornhub and Onlyfans can be considered "mainstream". Other teams in the industry who refer to themselves as "entrepreneurs" are unlikely to be recognized.

And online gambling is also declining. When Disney established ESPN BET, Sands, and Genting, these licensed institutions, and dominated the market, the survival space of small websites with sexy dealers dealing cards online was further compressed.

Therefore, when they see that the bosses of cryptocurrency trading platforms can buy NBA arenas, sponsor European teams and F1 racing teams, they are envious and understand that they need to "upgrade their industries".

Of course, since it is a contempt chain, there are naturally objects that they despise. Fair casinos look down on cheating casinos, while pig-killing platforms with one-on-one customer service are at the bottom of the contempt chain.

"Those who engage in telephone fraud are only fit to live in northern Myanmar for their entire lives."

Yes, if one can only live in an environment like the old street for their entire life, what is the meaning of wealth?

Therefore, freedom became the best way for them to prove their strength.

"If you're willing, we can meet in Hong Kong," the expert said with a tone that resembled me saying "fill up with 98" at a gas station.

"We can meet in Beijing next week," this is the strongest symbol of strength and also proof that our industry is confident in facing any global regulation.

Just a year ago, another crypto billionaire and founder of the crypto trading platform FTX, Sam Bankman Fried, had mocked CZ for not being able to freely enter and exit Washington (while he could), of course, SBF also paid a heavy price for his recklessness.

Therefore, when I saw CZ appear on the streets of the United States, I felt genuinely happy for him. After this moment, he finally lived the life of a normal wealthy person, able to go watch NBA games, chat with fellow crypto-supporting billionaire Cuban on the sidelines, and enjoy his weekends with friends in his Palm Springs mansion.

Of course, I would like to believe that one day he can also say to me, "Shawn, we can meet in Beijing next week."

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