CZ is very busy: 170 days after being released from prison, I want to return to the crypto throne

Author: Bright, Foresight News

Since returning from California, CZ has been very busy.

It has been 170 days since his comeback. In nearly half a year, CZ has posted a total of 363 tweets. Although he has not served as the CEO of Binance since November 2023, his enthusiasm for posting, attending events, and trying new things is even higher than when he was at the helm of Binance.

Recently, Binance announced a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX. The resulting "headscarf" Meme MUBARAK has soared to a market value of $157 million with CZ's frequent interactions. A tweet and a BNB have sparked a meme on the BNB Chain, which is highly controversial.

This inevitably raises the question—Is CZ, after shedding the nominal burden of being the "head of the world's largest exchange," reconstructing his influence in the industry with a more liberated approach?

The former Chinese billionaire immediately resumed his usual "tech evangelist" persona after his release, clearly stating that he will devote more time and funds to charity (and education) in the future, while continuing to focus on blockchain/decentralized technology, AI, and biotechnology. However, in a market environment where VC narratives are generally sluggish, CZ has not stubbornly adhered to the BUIDL rhetoric but has instead become a qualified "BNB community leader" amid the popularity of memes and online banter.

Return to Crypto: From DeSci Vanguard to Meme Master

CZ's first major move upon his return was to promote DeSci, a field that had been quiet for a long time. The VC investment-oriented DeSci and Biotech layout resembles a reflection of real-world paradigms on the blockchain.

CZ attended the DeSci conference in Bangkok with Vitalik in November 2024, instantly bringing the previously niche DeSci (decentralized science) field into the spotlight of hot money and attention. Subsequently, Binance Labs (now renamed Yzi Labs) announced its investment in the decentralized science financial layer project Bio protocol, which aims to achieve research data rights confirmation, transparent allocation of experimental funds, and commercialization of results through blockchain technology.

Now, Yzi Labs has added an explanation of its investment in Biotech on its official website and Twitter. The most popular meme launch platform on the BNB Chain, Four.meme, will also provide a DeSci label when creating tokens.

The popularity of DeSci has already garnered significant attention from researchers. Following the attraction of traditional finance practitioners to DeFi and artists to NFTs in Web3, scientists of all sizes may also rush in, bringing new narratives and increments to Web3.

Aside from CZ's optimistic investments in the field, he often extends his influence to new market trends in the name of experimentation.

Take meme coins as an example. CZ initially openly stated that meme coins have no real value, then admitted to meme coins in an interview, observed the frenzy of Degen participants fighting over the name of their dog Broccoli, joked that the TST test coin should pay for the Binance logo, publicly shared donation addresses to reignite meme donation trends, and recently stirred up controversy by retweeting a celebrity coin issued on the BNB chain. It can be said that CZ's busy presence has created every popular high-market-value meme on the BNB Chain.

Interestingly, CZ's operations during the MUBARAK incident can be described as textbook-level: On March 13, after Binance announced the $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi MGX, CZ personally retweeted the Binance Chinese account's Middle Eastern-style tweet with the caption "mubarak"; the next day, he retweeted a community-created meme "MUBARAK=CZ"; on the 15th, he posted a dynamic image featuring Mubarak, causing the token price to surge by 150% in a single day; on the 16th, he purchased 1 BNB of MUBARAK and TST on-chain, directly pushing MUBARAK's market value to over $100 million.

This "tweet interaction - community creation - on-chain operation" three-step model directly converts CZ's personal influence into strong market momentum. Data shows that MUBARAK went from concept to a market value of over $100 million in just 4 days, with a single-day trading volume peaking at $88.1 million, while the liquidity pool depth was less than $5 million, fully reflecting the characteristic of "attention as capital" in the meme economy led by CZ. This operational model sharply contrasts with the "Broccoli" naming incident, where CZ merely observed community disputes, resulting in a brief surge in market value of $20 million. Now, the BNB Chain meme has evolved into a systematic traffic operation anchored by CZ's attention.

Although CZ has largely distanced himself from these meme tokens, his changing attitude towards memes indeed reflects his evolving relationship with the community and the entire crypto industry, providing a vivid lesson for all top KOLs on how to maintain ecological heat using "attention economy" during sluggish market conditions.

Entering Education: The Billionaire's Social Transformation Practice

However, the most talked-about initiative from CZ remains his new venture, Giggle Academy. This open educational platform is a strategic project in his transformation blueprint. On March 3, CZ posted, "One kid at a time, times 6000 now," to celebrate the milestone of Giggle Academy's user count.

Giggle Academy launched on March 19, 2024, gamifying foundational education in subjects like mathematics, literature, science, physics, biology, finance, and even programming and AI through blockchain technology, while reconstructing the learning certification system using decentralized methods like NFTs and on-chain badges.

Giggle Academy aims to address two major pain points: first, to enhance learning retention through gamified design (platform data shows that users' average daily learning time increased by 23% compared to traditional online courses); second, to break the dilemma of degree inflation—when the learning process is immutably recorded, talent assessment will focus more on actual abilities rather than diploma packaging. In interviews, CZ emphasized that "teaching a man to fish is better than giving him a fish." Education is a key tool to solve global inequality, and blockchain can provide transparent and verifiable solutions for this.

However, he also stressed that Giggle Academy will not issue tokens and will be fully funded by individuals, nor will it adopt the traditional Web3 education promotion model of "Learn to earn." "This could lead to many problems," he said. On March 14, CZ announced a recommendation-based point-earning mechanism, but not in cryptocurrency. This "anti-Web3 bubble" design highlights his pragmatic approach to promoting technology implementation. It is evident that CZ aims to reconstruct not only the learning evaluation mechanism with blockchain technology but also the inclusive model of global education.

Crypto Leader: Finding the Middle Ground Between Industry and Individual

In just 170 days, CZ's average daily posts on X reached 2.135, a 37% increase compared to his tenure as Binance CEO, with over 60% of the content involving industry trend analysis, project incubation progress, and personal investment philosophies. This high-frequency interaction is less about the leisure of "retirement life" and more like a precise identity reshaping experiment—by downplaying the "Binance founder" label, CZ is shifting his personal IP from "exchange authority" to "crypto ecosystem enabler."

Before his imprisonment, CZ, as an early crypto evangelist and the actual manager of the first centralized exchange, was constrained by industry compliance and regulatory pressures. He even explicitly stated in 2023 that he "would not invest in such projects (meme)." This stance was closely related to the compliance image of his centralized exchange—at that time, Binance was facing global regulatory pressure and needed to maintain distance from high-risk assets. Thus, CZ often appeared as a builder, calling on people in the industry to BUIDL Web3 together. In fact, CZ admitted in an interview that he had never used DeFi. Coincidentally, on February 23, CZ posted on X that it was his first time using a DEX (decentralized exchange), which immediately caused a stir.

However, when CZ was released, Binance completely settled the reconciliation fees with the U.S. Department of Justice, and CZ was forced to leave the nominal management of Binance, he became, whether actively or passively, the largest KOL of the BNB chain and the entire Binance ecosystem. When the BNB meme market surged, most people's attention was fixed on CZ, hoping he could take over from Sol to ignite the BNB Chain ecosystem. In fact, CZ's response to memes and participation in the community has gradually transitioned from tentative exploration to systematic overall planning.

However, it is undeniable that regardless of whether he holds the position of Binance CEO, CZ still finds it difficult to detach himself from the relationship with the crypto empire he created. As the largest shareholder with a 90% stake, although he does not participate in daily decision-making, major strategic adjustments still require board consensus; as a founder, the market's over-interpretation of his statements is more likely to trigger a chain reaction. The crypto circle often says, "profits and losses come from the same source," and CZ's influence and resistance also stem from his most successful product—Binance.