Changpeng Zhao (CZ), CEO of Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced on Twitter that Binance Blockchain Week will be held in Istanbul on November 8-9. The news created excitement both in the cryptocurrency world and in Turkey.
Binance has an important role in the rapidly growing cryptocurrency market. Founded in 2017, Binance has achieved a considerable position in the world of cryptocurrency exchanges in a short time. One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Binance is headed by an important name: Changpeng Zhao.
Although he has been on the agenda with investigations recently, Zhao is a respected name in the cryptocurrency exchange. Changpeng Zhao, also commonly known as CZ, is a Canadian of Chinese descent. Born in 1977 in Jiangsu, China, CZ immigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his family when he was 12 years old.
Zhao, who studied computer science at McGill University in Montreal, has an interest in this field dating back to his childhood years. Zhao’s adventure in this field started when his father invested heavily in the groundbreaking 286 DOS computer.
After graduating, CZ managed to show himself in this field by designing trading software for big companies such as Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg Terminal. His ability to design complex and reliable trading software is interpreted as a reflection of his mastery of money markets and technological integration.
IT WAS NAMED BEFORE BINANCE IN THE WORLD OF CRYPTO
Prior to founding Binance, Changpeng Zhao held critical positions at companies that have an important place in the cryptocurrency industry. For example, he worked as the head of software development at Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain.info. His experience here has given Zhao an operational perspective in the cryptocurrency service delivery space. Later, he worked as chief technology officer (CTO) at OKCoin, one of China’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges at the time. During this role, he played a major role in establishing and expanding the company’s technology infrastructure.
CZ speaking at the NFT Summit held in Vietnam last year. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
During this time, Zhao has strengthened his ability to design robust and effective software solutions and understand the difference between trading systems.
Having stepped into the cryptocurrency world in 2013, Zhao founded the centralized crypto exchange Binance in 2017 and received $15 million from its initial digital currency offering. That year, the company also withdrew from China “due to increased interest by Chinese authorities in cryptocurrency activities.” Compliance with regulations and protecting users’ investments were cited as the reason. In its statement in 2021, the company announced that they also stopped trading with the yuan. However, according to reports in recent months, the company continued to exist in China after 2017, but kept it hidden.
In May 2019, Binance suffered a major security breach. About 7,000 BTC were lost after hackers stole sensitive information such as two-factor authentication. However, the company immediately refunded consumers and announced that it has taken additional security measures to prevent similar attacks in the future.
In 2021, there were speculations about insider trading on Binance. Before the important announcements, it was stated that some people made unfair profits by trading on Binance. Binance denied the accusations, emphasizing its commitment to fair trade procedures.
In November 2022, Chanpeng Zhao made an attempt to buy FTX, which was experiencing liquidity problems. While Zhao was in talks with FTX, FTX first stopped the token sale. The next day, Binance stopped acquiring the company amid a $6 billion deficit and concerns about how FTX was handling its customers’ money. A short time later, FTX, which is said to be worth $32 billion, started the bankruptcy process.
Last year, Binance facilitated $5.3 trillion worth of spot trades, over two-thirds of all volume managed by centralized crypto exchanges.
Binance has recently faced investigations in Europe, Asia and the US for money laundering and money transfer fraud. The company denies all these accusations.
CZ IS A BILLIONARY?
It is a fact that Binance has brought a significant amount of wealth to Zhao Changpeng, but there is no certain information about how much. Different numbers are being pronounced about Zhao’s net worth. According to Forbes, CZ’s net worth is $10.2 billion. Zhao is ranked 167th on Forbes’ 2023 Billionaires List. It should be underlined here that the existence of CZ is likely to fluctuate dramatically as a result of instability in the cryptocurrency market.
Source: Forbes, Reuters, Cointelegraph
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