From Razzlekhan to SBF: Here are crypto’s most iconic couples
In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a look at some of crypto’s biggest couples
Shutterstock AI modified by Blockworks
It’s Valentine’s Day, which is the perfect day to reminisce on some of the most iconic crypto couples.
While some of the couples on this list didn’t make it, and some have either been charged with or admitted to committing crimes, all these couples left their mark on crypto.
There are, of course, many more crypto couples that were left off this list. For example, the couple behind the YouTube channel dubbed “The Crypto Couple.”
While the Crypto Couple says their videos aim to provide “edutainment” (a mixture of entertainment and education), we can’t forget another entertainer who dubbed herself the “Crocodile of Wall Street” before she and her husband were arrested.
Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein
The two have a slew of nicknames, including the “Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde.”
Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to orchestrating a $4.5 billion money-laundering scheme tied to Bitfinex. Lichtenstein confessed that he was the original hacker behind the 2016 hack in a hearing last year.
The two stole nearly 120,000 bitcoin, worth nearly $6 billion at current prices. When the bitcoin was originally stolen, it was worth around $70 million.
According to a Facebook post from Lichtenstein, the two got engaged in 2019. He also explained how he proposed to his now-wife: through a fake marketing scheme for her rapper persona.
The post explains that Lichtenstein ran “several” design competitions and hired an agency to post the designs around New York City.
Read more: Web3 Watch: Can you find love on the blockchain?
“We finally settled on a design that captures the essence of Razzlekhan: surreal, mysterious, creepy and sexy. Horrifying enough to grab attention, and enticing enough so you can’t look away,” he said.
And if that isn’t enough to prove their love, documents from Lichtenstein’s plea deal confirmed that he asked his wife to help launder the stolen funds. Aw.
“Morgan was initially unaware of the specific origin of Lichtenstein’s proceeds, although she participated with Lichtenstein in efforts to conceal and obscure the source of the funds while knowing and understanding that the funds were the result of some unspecified unlawful and fraudulent activity,” a court filing said. He then told her, in 2020, where the bitcoin came from.
Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison
While their love story may not be one for the ages, it certainly secures their place on the list.
Bankman-Fried and Ellison are no longer together, though the former lovebirds reunited at Bankman-Fried’s trial late last year.
Notably, when Ellison was asked to identify her former lover during his trial, she took nearly a minute to do so.
Read more: 5 hidden gems from Caroline Ellison’s FTX testimony you might’ve missed
The two engaged in an on-again, off-again relationship, according to testimony from Ellison. Prior to the start of the November trial, Bankman-Fried’s bail was revoked by Judge Lewis Kaplan because he allegedly leaked Ellison’s diary entries to a New York Times reporter. No love lost there it seems.
The two started dating in 2020 — though they became lovers around 2018 — and broke up in 2022. Bankman-Fried testified that Ellison wanted “more from it than I was able to give.” Ellison made a similar statement during her testimony.
Changpeng Zhao and Yi He
The former CEO of Binance and the exchange’s co-founder share children, though — according to a Bloomberg report from last year — she is not the Binance version of Caroline Ellison. While Ellison was an employee of FTX and Bankman-Fried, Yi He is a partner.
“The relationship between co-founders requires much more than what a dating relationship does. A co-founder relationship is about comradeship, a dating relationship is about chemistry. The former is based on shared beliefs and goes beyond gender, the latter is based on physical attraction and selfish desires,” she told Bloomberg.
Read more: If Binance isn’t compliant, then practically no other global trading platform is: Binance co-founder
Their relationship is a bit murkier than the aforementioned couples, with Yi He calling Zhao a “comrade-in-arms” and likening their relationship to college roommates.
“They have been partners in business and in life, and have children together,” Bloomberg reported.
Both the Wall Street Journal and Reuters have also reported on the couple’s romantic relationship.
Yi He joined Zhao around 2017 as both a co-founder and chief marketing officer at Binance. Now that Zhao’s stepped aside as part of a settlement with the US government, she’s the largest shareholder in the company, according to a December report from the WSJ.
According to court documents filed late last year, the two reside in the United Arab Emirates with their children. Zhao sought permission to leave the country to visit his family before his sentencing but was denied by a judge. He’s set to be sentenced in April.
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