CZ: Withdrawing from FTX equity investment due to SBF poaching employees and maliciously disparaging, related lawsuits are still ongoing.

On February 11th, CZ, the founder of CEX, stated in an All-In podcast interview, “I first met SBF at the Singapore conference in 2019. FTX proposed establishing a joint venture (JV), which was initially rejected. A subsequent proposal led to CEX investing in a 20% stake in FTX. During this process, some issues arose, including malicious defamation and employee poaching. In July 2021, we exited the investment, and we were not deeply involved as investors. There are still ongoing lawsuits, and the bankruptcy proceedings and compensation details for FTX are unclear.” Additionally, CZ revealed that applying for a pardon requires a lawyer to draft a petition explaining the reasons, such as whether there was excessive prosecution or if the individual has good conduct. The final decision is entirely in the hands of the U.S. president, and there is no fixed or standardized process. Historically, most U.S. presidents tend to issue pardons on their last day in office, but Biden has also issued “preemptive pardons.” CZ believes that obtaining a pardon is crucial for CEX to smoothly and compliantly enter the U.S. market, and he also thinks that Trump’s own legal issues may, to some extent, help the success of the pardon application.