"Fulamak! Billions are also lost, but maybe only a little for CZ."
The fortune of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has seen a decline to $17.2 billion which means he has lost $11.9 billion as data shows his volume this year plummeted.
In November 2022, CZ liquidating FTX-linked tokens prompted FTX customers to rush to withdraw their money, causing the crypto exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to declare bankruptcy.
Following CZ's actions, SBF's wealth has been reduced to zero shortly after peaking at $26 billion in March last year.
In addition to gaining market share earlier this year, Binance's trading volume also jumped 62% in the first quarter when there was a zero-fee promotion for the popular trading pair but it began to decline 51% at the end of the third quarter after the offer ended.
Over the past few months, the crypto exchange has found itself increasingly isolated from the traditional financial system.
This is because the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance in June 2023, then the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused it of evading the rules that allow United States (US) users to access Binance.
Not only that, regulatory officials also alleged that Binance did not have adequate money laundering controls, inflated trading volumes and mismanaged client assets, but Binance has vehemently denied the allegations.
In June 2023, the Bloomberg wealth index reduced the value of the Binance US exchange to zero after they announced that they will no longer trade in dollars, and this has caused the volume to drop drastically.
