Regarding not bowing down to regulators easily, he even boasted that in his response to CFTC that "Binance.com is the first global (non-US) exchange to implement a mandatory KYC program, and remains today to have one of the highest standards in KYC and AML" so I don't think that's true.
No, I am not arguing that he is a protector of anonymity and privacy. What I am arguing about is for whatever CZ's reasons are, whether profit or protection of illegal activities through the exchange, he did not bow down immediately and he made it difficult for the regulators to force their demands on him and his business.
I speculate that it might be his friends and the other close executives who were loyal to him that might have influenced him to accept the deal with the DOJ to save Binance.
On boasting about mandatory KYC. This is marketing to make it appear safe for the users, I reckon hehehehe. Do you know how Binance became the no.1 exchange in the world? This was during forced KYC from the American regulators. Bittrex was no.1 then implemented KYC. Their users left and who was there to accept them without KYC? Binance.
Binance did not implement KYC until it was impossible for them.