Binance Coin (BNB), the native token of the leading crypto exchange Binance, reached an all-time high of $725 on June 6th, coinciding with the first week of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao's (CZ) four-month prison sentence in the US.

According to Bloomberg, this price surge has made CZ the richest person ever to serve time in a US federal prison. Despite his legal issues, BNB's market capitalization exceeded $109 billion last week, based on CoinGecko data.

BNB’s Price Surge Reflects Exchange’s Growth?

The report indicates that BNB's price increase parallels Binance's rise, with the platform's total asset value growing from about $80 billion in early January to $125 billion now.

This growth underscores Binance's industry dominance despite facing challenges last year, including a $4.3 billion fine to resolve a case with US authorities.

BNB holders enjoy trading-fee discounts on Binance and use the token for fee payments on Binance Smart Chain, a popular blockchain for crypto applications.

The recent BNB price surge was predicted by derivative market trading patterns in late May and increased spot demand in early June, as noted by Kaiko analyst Dessislava Aubert. While BNB trades on various exchanges, Bloomberg reports that Binance handles 85% of its global trading volume.

CZ's Wealth Exceeds $38 Billion

Previously, Binance was accused of anti-money laundering and sanctions violations, including allowing access to the exchange by groups like Hamas and Al Qaeda. Zhao agreed to pay a $50 million fine as part of the settlement, a small sum compared to his estimated $38.5 billion net worth, mostly in BNB.

Referred to as "CZ," Zhao is the 40th wealthiest person globally, with his net worth increasing by $4.1 billion in 2024, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While the extent of Zhao’s BNB holdings is undisclosed, BNB's 2017 ICO whitepaper allocated 80 million tokens (worth about $56 billion today) to the founding team.

Despite Binance and its co-founder's legal and regulatory challenges, BNB’s rising value indicates sustained interest and confidence in the token and its ecosystem.

As of now, BNB is trading at $652, down 4% in the past 24 hours but up 176% year-to-date.