Changpeng Zhao is the founder and CEO of Binance (which is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world). He was born in China but currently holds Canadian citizenship. He was tagged to be crypto’s richest person in 2021. Currently, he holds the 615th position in the world’s richest person lists on 10 Feb 2023 as per Forbes.
Early Life
Changpeng Zhao was born in Jiangsu province of china in a middle-class family. At the age of 12, his family moved to Vancouver, Canada. Both his parents were teachers, but his father was branded as a pro-bourgeois intellect and later exiled. To support his family, Changpeng took various service jobs which included employment at Mcdonald’s.
Overview
| Name: | Changpeng Zhao |
| Net Worth: | $4.5 Billion |
| Monthly Income: | $500 Million + |
| Date of Birth: | September 10, 1977 |
| Birth Place: | Jiangsu, China |
| Age: | 45 Yrs |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 1.70m. (5’ 5”) |
| Weight: | 72 kg or 159 lbs. |
| Profession: | CEO of Binance |
| Nationality: | Canadian |
| Residence | Dubai |
| Eye Colour: | Dark brown |
| Hair Colour: | Black |
Education and Career
Changpeng Zhao majored in computer science from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. After that, he started working as an intern under a subcontractor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, developing software for matching trade orders. ha
After gaining knowledge in software development and trading, he joined the Bloomberg trade book as a full-time employee for four years, Where he was a developer of futures trading software.
After understanding the fundamentals of trading in 2005, he moved to Shanghai and became the founder of Fusion Systems, which is one of the fastest high-frequency trading systems for brokers.
Between 2013-2017, With a team, he worked on the development of the cryptocurrency project Blockchain.info and served as chief technology officer of OKCoin.
In 2017, Changpeng left OKCoin and started a cryptocurrency exchange, launched in July 2017 with the name Binance.
Changpeng’s journey with Binance
Binance was launched in July 2017 by Changpeng Zhao. In the initial coin offering, Binance was able to raise $15 million in funding. Within 11 days of its launch, the First trade was booked on the exchange.
Changpeng was ready to make Binance global to make trading easy, launched Binance coin, which was a utility token that gives its owners various benefits, such as discounts on trading fees and with this, in less than eight months that is in April 2018, Binance became world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.
In April 2019, Binance Smart Chain was launched by Binance with smart contract functionality.
How Changpeng Zhao got rich?
In 2013, Changpeng Zhao first learned about Bitcoin, he believed in the potential of coin and decided to sell his Shanghai home and go all-in. He bought BTC at an average price of $600 per coin, going all-in on the young digital currency. His belief in the potential of coin was unshaken even when the price of bitcoin dropped and reached $200 during a bear market. After a few years, bitcoin touched a new high, making Changpeng one of the Richest people in the crypto market.
Changpeng wealth over years:
| Year | Net Worth (in billion) |
| 2020 | $1.9 billion |
| 2021 | $8 billion |
| 2022 | $96 billion |
| Feb 2023 | $4.5 billion |
Changpeng Zhao lost US billion
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the wealthiest crypto personality, saw the sharpest decline in personal wealth over a year because of the bear market and the current world situation. It’s estimated that his wealth dropped by more than 90% from 96 billion to 4.5 billion dollars.
Conclusion
The life journey of Changpeng Zhao is exciting and inspiring. He started from the bottom but his efforts and hard work have become one of the richest people in the world who lives a luxurious life with his family. He showed that sometimes you have to believe in yourself and be ready to take risk