As Russia’s tanks rolled into Ukraine, Vladimir Putin gathered the country’s top businessmen in the Kremlin’s ornate Hall of the Order of St Catherine to discuss their response to sanctions. The Russian president seated about 20ft away in a conspicuous social-distancing measure. Putin told them he would have no other choice but to invade Ukraine and if they wanted to keep their businesses, neither did they.
In the spring of 2025, as Easter dawns with its promise of renewal and resurrection, Changpeng Zhao—known to the crypto world as CZ—stands as a figure both fallen and reborn. Once the towering architect of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, Zhao’s journey mirrors the Easter narrative: a descent into legal purgatory followed by a reemergence into the public eye.