Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has admonished the global crypto community to stay vigilant about AI-generated deepfakes promoting cryptocurrency scams on social media after being released from jail.
“There are deepfake videos of me on other social media platforms. Please beware,” the crypto founder wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Several prominent media figures have recently been impersonated using deepfakes, including former president Donald Trump, billionaire songwriter Taylor Swift, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Zhao himself.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent overture to the crypto industry has also ignited speculation that the Democratic presidential nominee might soon see her own wave of AI-generated deepfakes touting crypto tokens.
According to blockchain data forensic firm Elliptic, most deepfake crypto scams follow a familiar playbook: The scams regularly invite unsuspecting individuals on the web to substantially increase their earnings if they transfer cryptocurrency to a specific crypto wallet address – only for the promised rewards never to appear.
Zhao was released from a prison cell in California last month, after serving a sentence of four months for violating U.S. rules around money laundering and other violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Zhao’s firm, Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange – pleaded guilty and was subject to a $4.3 billion penalty, one of the largest ever imposed on a company. Meanwhile, the U.S. hit Zhao with a $50 million penalty, along with an additional $50 million penalty to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Zhao has also stepped down from the crypto firm, and has underlined how well the company has performed in his absence: “Binance seems to be doing well without my intervention, which is great,” Zhao expressed recently. “This is every founder’s dream!”
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