By Nick Barclay / The Verge
Binance owner and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has agreed to step down and plead guilty to breaking anti-money laundering laws, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. This comes as part of the major settlement the Department of Justice is expected to announce this afternoon, which will reportedly require Binance to fork over $4.3 billion in fines.
Even though Zhao can no longer assume an executive role at Binance, the WSJ reports the terms of the agreement will let Zhao keep his majority ownership of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao is expected to enter his plea at a Seattle court on Tuesday, with sentencing to come at a later date. Richard Teng, Binance’s head of regional markets, is in the running to…