Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is the founder and CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. With a net worth of approximately $30 billion as of October 25, he is the 33rd richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Meet CZ, who worked at a gas station before he made his fortune
Son of an exiled professor!
Changpeng Zhao was born into a family of teachers in a rural village in China’s Jiangsu province in 1977, according to Fortune. A Chinese-Canadian, Zhao moved to Vancouver with his family in the late 1980s. Zhao’s father, Shengkai, was a professor exiled to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution in China.
In a September blog post, CZ says his family had to queue for three days outside the Canadian embassy to get a visa. He adds that he was lucky to be able to leave at that time. Shengkai immigrated to Canada to pursue a PhD at the University of British Columbia, according to Maclean’s. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Zhao and his family followed his father to Vancouver.
CZ says he experienced food rationing while growing up in rural China. “He had a ticket to buy meat,” CZ says in an interview with Fortune in March. Also, Zhao says he couldn’t drink fresh milk until he moved to Canada because it’s so rare to find it in China.
McDonald, Chevron gas station, volleyball referee…
When Zhao moved to Canada, he took a number of part-time jobs, including working as a cook at McDonald’s. Furthermore, he worked at a Chevron gas station. He even refereed volleyball matches in his youth to earn money. Zhao wrote in his blog post that moving to Canada “changed his life forever. It was his best years as a youth,” he says. According to the Forbes report, Zhao is quite frugal. He has no cars, yachts or luxury watches, and his ‘only pleasure’ was the three cell phones he owned at the time.
Quickly climbed the career ladder
Zhao studied computer science at McGill University in Montreal, the same school where his father worked as a visiting professor. Zhao’s interest in technology was fueled by a 286 DOS computer worth $14,000 that his father, a math prodigy and programmer, bought Zhao when he was young. Before joining McGill, Zhao enrolled in high school programming classes. He also started coding when he was just 16 years old, according to Bloomberg.
After graduating from college, Zhao built a successful career working on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg’s Trade Book. Zhao, then 27, was promoted three times in less than two years to manage teams in New Jersey, London and Tokyo.
Binance CEO’s fortune is astounding
In 2005, Zhao left corporate life. He then went to Shanghai to become a partner of the trading system company Fusion Systems. According to Zhao’s LinkedIn page, he left the company in December 2013.
Bloomberg estimates that Zhao is worth about $30.6 billion from his majority stake in the cryptocurrency platform. However, this is not a complete picture of his wealth. Bloomberg says he did not directly include the cryptocurrency Zhao holds in his net worth, as the amount is not publicly available.
According to Bloomberg’s September report, Zhao has personal cryptocurrency in Bitcoin and Binance Coin. Citing an estimate from Zhao, Bloomberg notes that in 2021, Binance had more than 90 million users. According to Maclean’s, Zhao acquired a substantial amount of wealth from Bitcoin by purchasing $1 million worth of BTC at just $600 per unit.
Binance hack and criticism of CZ and the stock market
However, Zhao’s journey on Binance was far from smooth. The company got involved in several controversies. cryptocoin.comAs you follow, a $570 million cryptocurrency traded on the Binance exchange in October was stolen in a Blockchain hack. Zhao told CNBC that none of the users lost money in the attack. He also stated that ‘software code is never bug-free’. Meanwhile, the Binance hack is one of the biggest cryptocurrency hacks of all time.
Binance has also received criticism for its ties to China. According to a September article by Protos, Binance delisted only Chinese yuan-based trading pairs on the stock market in 2021. Served customers in China for several years. Chinese authorities banned all crypto-related transactions in September 2021.
Zhao responded to these allegations in a blog post. In this context, he explained that Binance was never included in China. He also said that it ‘culturally does not operate like a Chinese company’. ‘I’m a Canadian citizen, period,’ she added.
Binance has also sparked controversy for allowing Iran-based users to trade cryptocurrencies on the exchange despite US sanctions. Binance advised traders in Iran to liquidate their accounts in November 2018. However, seven traders continued to use the account until September 2021 after the ban.
Binance CEO CZ now resides in Dubai
CZ currently resides in Dubai. He previously resided in Singapore. Zhao moved to Dubai in late 2021. Here he rented an office to run what he describes as a ‘new phase’ of Binance. Bloomberg reports that Zhao owns an apartment and a van in the city.
“I have always loved being with different cultures,” CZ says. According to a 2021 interview with Bloomberg, he describes the city as ‘very pro-crypto. Zhao previously lived in Singapore from 2019 to 2021.
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