Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was this week sentenced to four months in an American prison for failing to take adequate measures against cybercriminals and terrorist groups on his exchange. For some crypto enthusiasts, there may yet be a silver lining to this sad episode. As crypto goes from being a buccaneering innovator in finance to one of the grown-ups in the room, the increased scrutiny from regulators will weed out some bad apples, in turn enabling a cleaned-up sector to move forward.
However, the incident underscores a tension at the heart of crypto. Created by libertarians angry at the bank bailouts that followed the 2008 global financial crisis, it was originally intended as a new form of money that would operate outside the formal system. Along with new dark web spaces that sprang up around that time, such as Silk Road, its whole purpose was to create an autonomous space where a new economy could emerge. If a few bad apples used it, that was a price worth paying for sticking it to the man. After all, the 2008 crash had revealed plenty of villains in the regulated banking sector.
