The Story of Changpeng Zhao

The story of Changpeng Zhao, better known in the crypto industry as CZ, has once again become the focus of the financial world. Just a year and a half ago, the founder of the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance was leaving prison after a high-profile investigation against the company. Today his fortune is estimated at around $110-111 billion, placing him among the richest people on the planet and ahead of Bill Gates in terms of wealth.

According to Forbes, his net worth has increased by tens of billions of dollars over the past year, and in the global billionaire ranking he has risen to approximately 17th place, becoming one of roughly twenty people in the world with a fortune exceeding $100 billion.

This growth is particularly striking considering the events of recent years. In 2023, Binance faced a large-scale investigation by U.S. authorities. Regulators accused the company of insufficient controls to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. As a result, Changpeng Zhao acknowledged that the exchange failed to maintain an effective system to prevent financial crimes. Under a settlement with the authorities, he agreed to pay a personal fine of about $50 million, while Binance itself paid roughly $4.3 billion. CZ also stepped down as CEO and spent four months in a California prison. At the time, it seemed that the entrepreneur’s influence on the crypto industry might decline significantly.

However, just 17 months later the situation has changed dramatically. Despite stepping down as CEO, the majority of his wealth remains tied to his stake in Binance. The exchange continues to be the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world. According to analysts, its share of the global market is about 38%. The platform processes enormous volumes of transactions – more than $30 trillion in annual trading across spot and derivatives markets. At such scale, even a small stake in the company could mean a fortune worth tens of billions of dollars, but in CZ’s case the ownership share is significantly larger. According to legal documents from the investigation and estimates by industry experts, he controls around 90% of the company.

Although Binance remains a private company and does not publish detailed financial reports, analysts attempt to estimate its value using indirect indicators. One benchmark is the American crypto exchange Coinbase, whose shares are publicly traded. According to analysts from Artemis, Binance generated approximately $16-17 billion in revenue in 2024-2025. For comparison, Coinbase recorded around $6.6 billion in revenue. This means the world’s largest crypto exchange earns roughly two and a half times more than its closest publicly traded competitor. Based on these figures and the company’s market share, analysts estimate Binance’s valuation at around $100 billion. If the founder owns about 90% of the company, his stake could be worth roughly $90 billion, which forms the core of his wealth.

Beyond the trading platform, Binance has built an entire crypto ecosystem around itself. One of its key components is the BNB Chain blockchain network, which hosts decentralized applications and financial services. The market capitalization of this ecosystem is estimated at around $88 billion. The platform is also actively developing user incentive programs, investment projects, developer infrastructure, and various token distribution initiatives, further strengthening its position in the market.

CZ also holds personal cryptocurrency assets, although they represent a much smaller portion of his fortune. According to analysts, he owns approximately 1,400 bitcoins. However, the value of this holding has declined by about a quarter over the past year and is currently estimated at around $100 million. It is also believed that the entrepreneur holds a significant share of the BNB token supply. Nevertheless, fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices affect his overall wealth far less than the value of the exchange itself.

Today Changpeng Zhao lives in the United Arab Emirates, where Binance’s global headquarters is located. The entrepreneur holds Canadian citizenship, but his business was originally built as an international platform without a strict connection to any single jurisdiction. This global structure has long been a source of conflicts with regulators, particularly in the United States.

Despite these disputes, Binance’s position in the crypto market remains extremely strong. The platform has the largest liquidity among crypto exchanges, offers a wide range of trading instruments, and remains one of the most technologically advanced services in the industry. Millions of traders continue to use the exchange, maintaining its dominant position.

If Binance were ever to go public or be sold to a strategic investor, its valuation could become even higher. Even considering that much of the company’s business operates outside U.S. regulation, analysts believe the value of such a deal could be measured in hundreds of billions of dollars.

The story of CZ has become one of the clearest examples of how quickly the modern financial world is changing. Just ten years ago cryptocurrencies were viewed as an experimental market for technology enthusiasts, and today their creators are among the richest people on the planet. Changpeng Zhao’s path looks particularly unusual: only a year and a half after serving a prison sentence, he not only returned to the industry but also became wealthier than one of the most famous billionaires of the technological era.