> Most importantly, he let people trade shady shitcoins but never stole customer funds.

Can't highlight your "most importantly" enough. At the end of the day, CZ didn't follow regulations, which certainly gave lots of shady characters access to money transfers who otherwise would have been blocked had those regulations been followed. But for everyday joes that just gambled and lost, it's hard to feel much sympathy (especially since plenty have gambled and won). But unlike FTX, Binance didn't flat out commit theft. Do that with enough money and you're screwed.