Changpeng Zhao

About

He founded Binance in 2017 a crypto exchange that quickly rose to be one of the most popular exchanges in the world. In 2022, his net worth rose to an estimate of over $30 billion.  Prior to starting Binance, he was the CTO of OKCoin.  Most people within the crypto and finance community refer to him as CZ. 

Before Fame

He worked at McDonald's for a time period when he was growing up, and then later studied computer science at McGill University.

Trivia

He has posted pictures of him with several different celebrities on his Instagram including Shaquille O'Neal, Francis Suarez, and Khaby Lame.  He was on the cover of Forbes in 2018 with a headline that said he was crypto's secret billionaire.  He hosted a Twitter space in November of 2022 to discuss the ongoing crisis within the crypto industry, there were tens of thousands of users listening in real time. 

Family Life

Both of his parents were teachers when he lived in China.  He would eventually move to Canada and when he founded Binance he was based in Singapore.

Associated With

In November of 2022, he was in talks to take over Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX company, but he decided not to.