Binance founder CZ was transferred from prison to a halfway house – but is not yet free

Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has been transferred from his prison to the RRM Long Beach rehabilitation center in California and has not yet been released despite claims from agitated X (formerly Twitter) users.

CZ was initially held at FCI Lompoc II prison, also in California, but the federal inmate tracker was updated this week to show he has been transferred to Long Beach.

RRM Long Beach is classified as a Residential Reentry Management (RRM) Field Office, also known as a “rehabilitation facility.” According to InmateAID, an inmate communications service provider, it is a housing unit that assists inmates nearing their release date.

InmateAID says: “There is no level of security other than voluntary compliance, but house rules are strictly enforced.”

This means that while CZ is technically being released from prison – RRM Long Beach is a facility managed by the Bureau of Prisons and not a prison per se – he will still serve his sentence.

However, X users and numerous crypto companies mistakenly interpreted the news as a premature release of CZ.

Previously, there had been confusion about CZ's release date. Many believed he would be released on August 30. This date actually coincided with his April 30 sentencing, but he was not actually incarcerated until late May.

This means that CZ has 38 days left of his sentence and will actually be released on September 29. Although this sentence is coming to an end, he now has another lawsuit to worry about.