Today we will look into Binance former CEO pleading guilty for money laundering, how will this affect the crypto space going forward? OpenAI is set to reinstate their former CEO just a few days after firing him and also we will look at Amazon setting up their site to sell cars, would you purchase one off the online platform?
Former founder and CEO of the largest crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao has pleaded guilty to money laundering. CZ knowingly had broken anti-money laundering laws and Binance had admitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) has engaged in unlicensed money transmitting and sanctions violation.
As such, the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, shared that Zhao had “willfully violated federal laws that guards against money laundering and terrorism financing transactions.” Garland was most upset not with the fact that Binance had failed to comply with the rules, but more so that they failed to comply with federal law but they acted like they were complying to these laws.
Zhao had tweeted that he will be stepping down from Binance in a heartfelt message and since then Richard Teng, a long time executive will take over the crypto exchange.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been reinstated to his former position just 4 days after being sacked from the company. This was followed with president of OpenAI, Greg Brockman, resigning in protest with the decision of the board and over 700 staff of Open AI sending in their resignation and agreeing to work with Microsoft where Sam Altman was heading to.
The new era for Altman has already seen plans between himself and Microsoft putting in billions of dollars into fully developing the product and rolling it out to their clients globally. One thing is for certain and it is that Microsoft will be working very closely with OpenAI as they have already launched some AI into their products, with ChatGPT version 3.5 currently on the Bing search engine.
Amazon has shared that they are planning to start selling cars online and have partnered with Hyundai, one of the leading car manufacturers out of South Korea. Though the deal as it stands still has to go through a local Hyundai dealer, the customer can set up financing and make the purchase on Amazon and then the car will be delivered to their address as stated. For now, Amazon is just facilitating the transaction and not outright eliminating the local dealers.