Former Binance CEO Says Hyperliquid Is ‘Awesome’—Assuming They Have Good Lawyers

In a preview of an upcoming conversation with Galaxy Research’s Alex Thorn posted to X, former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao praised blockchain-based perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid, which has been one of the biggest success stories in crypto over the past couple of years. However, CZ also hinted that Hyperliquid could face legal scrutiny for pairing minimal identity checks with decentralization theater.

“I would never do what they do given what I’ve experienced in my life,” said CZ. “But I’m not a legal person. I cannot give other people advice. I assume they have good lawyers. They are making a lot of money.”

CZ added that Binance can’t compete with Hyperliquid, pointing to the latter’s lack of compliance with Know Your Customer regulations. “They don’t have KYC,” said CZ. “They claim to be decentralized.”

“I think the Hyperliquid invention is actually awesome. They occupy a niche that Binance.. cannot compete. They don’t have KYC. They claim they’re decentralized… I would never do what they do, given what I’ve experienced… I assume they have good lawyers.” pic.twitter.com/FOXuzaRodc

CZ is speaking from direct experience here. In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $4.3 billion to resolve U.S. allegations tied to anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, while Zhao personally pleaded guilty to causing Binance to fail to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. Zhao also later received a four-month prison sentence.

Zhao would later receive a controversial pardon from President Trump in October 2025. Former Justice Department pardon attorney Liz Oyer described Trump’s pardon of Zhao as “unprecedented” corruption because of the overlap between Binance’s and Trump-linked crypto venture World Liberty Financial’s business dealings. Of course, there have been many such controversies regarding Trump-affiliated crypto projects during the president’s second term in office, which could explain why most Americans do not trust him to fairly regulate the industry, according to one poll.

Notably, the privacy-focused bitcoin wallet developers of Samourai Wallet made their own pardon request not long after CZ was pardoned, while facing prosecution over software that prosecutors say facilitated illicit transactions. However, they did not have obvious business entanglements with Trumpworld’s crypto apparatus, and they did not get the same outcome. Both developers are currently serving multi-year prison sentences.

Binance is also far from the only crypto trading venue to face charges associated with lax KYC a