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Binance Coin (BNB), the native token of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, recently hit an all-time high of $725 on June 6th, the first week of exchange founder Chagpeng Zhao’s (CZ) four-month<a href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-ceo-to-step-down-4-billion-settlement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener "> prison sentence</a> in the US.&nbsp; 
According to a Bloomberg report, this price rally for the Binance Coin has made CZ the richest person ever to serve time in a US federal prison. Despite his legal troubles, the token’s market capitalization surpassed $109 billion in the past week, based on <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bnb" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">data </a>from CoinGecko.&nbsp; 
<h2 id="bnb-s-price-surge-mirrors-exchange-s-rise">BNB’s Price Surge Mirrors Exchange’s Rise?&nbsp;</h2> 
Per the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-09/binance-linked-bnb-token-s-record-cements-ex-ceo-cz-as-richest-us-inmate" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">report</a>, Binance Coin’s price trajectory mirrors the fortunes of the exchange itself, as the total value of assets on the platform has climbed from approximately $80 billion in early January to $125 billion currently.&nbsp; 
This growth has further solidified Binance’s dominance in the cryptocurrency industry despite a challenging period last year that culminated in the company paying a historic <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-fine-trigger-bitcoin-crypto-sell-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">$4.3 billion fine</a> to settle a case with US authorities. 
BNB holders benefit from trading-fee discounts on the Binance platform. The token is also utilized for fee settlements on Binance Smart Chain, a blockchain widely used by crypto applications, including games and exchanges. 
The recent surge in BNB’s value was foreshadowed by derivative market trading patterns in late May, followed by increased <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-former-ceo-czs-wealth-skyrockets-25-billion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">spot demand</a> in June, as buying consistently outpaced selling between June 2 and 5, as Kaiko analyst Dessislava Aubert noted.&nbsp; 
While BNB trades on several centralized exchanges, Bloomberg notes that Binance remains the dominant platform, accounting for 85% of BNB’s trading volume globally. 
<h2 id="binance-founder-cz-s-wealth-surpasses-38-billion">Binance Founder CZ’s Wealth Surpasses $38 Billion</h2> 
As previously <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-faces-lawsuit-from-hamas-hostage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">reported</a>, Binance had faced allegations of anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions breaches, including failing to prevent access to the exchange by groups such as Hamas, Al Qaeda, and other militant organizations. Zhao agreed to pay a personal fine of $50 million as part of the settlement.&nbsp; 
However, this amount is relatively small compared to Zhao’s estimated net worth of $38.5 billion, a fortune primarily denominated in BNB. Zhao has previously stated that he is a significant shareholder in Binance. 
Referred to as “CZ,” Zhao currently ranks as the 40th wealthiest person globally, with his <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-vs-sec-crypto-exchange-heads-to-court/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">net worth</a> having grown by $4.1 billion in 2024, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.&nbsp; 
While the extent of Zhao’s BNB holdings remains undisclosed, a 2017 whitepaper from BNB’s initial coin offering (ICO) revealed that 80 million tokens, valued at approximately $56 billion today, were allocated to the founding team.&nbsp; 
Overall, despite the legal and<a href="https://bitcoinist.com/binance-files-motion-to-dismiss-cftc-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener "> regulatory challenges</a> faced by Binance and its co-founder, the surge in the value of BNB highlights the continued interest and confidence in the token and its associated ecosystem.&nbsp; 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium" src="https://www.tradingview.com/x/tALzo56e/" alt="BNB" width="1815" height="858"> 
At the time of writing, BNB was trading at $652, down 4% in the last 24 hours. However, on a year-to-date basis, the token is up a substantial 176%.&nbsp; 
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com

BNB’s Price Surge Propels Binance’s CZ To Richest US Prisoner Status With $38B Net Worth

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