A crypto CEO has become one of the richest people in the world. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who runs the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, has joined the ranks of the world’s top billionaires, with an estimated net worth of at least $ 133 billion, according to new calculations from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index released overnight.
Mr. Zhao’s projected fortune now rivals that of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, surpasses that of Mukesh Ambani, the Indian tycoon whose fortune has also skyrocketed in the past two years.
The rise of the Sino-Canadian entrepreneur is emblematic of the rapid accumulation of wealth in the fast-moving world of digital currencies.
Last year, other crypto founders also enjoyed huge gains as the value of virtual currencies rebounded, with Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin and Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong both becoming billionaires.
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, another Binance-backed cryptocurrency exchange, today noted “unprecedented amount of wealth creation that has occurred in the industry over the last few years.”
“I think there are many people who try to figure out what [that],” Mr Friedman said, who himself is a young billionaire, he said during a virtual outstage discussion at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong.
In a Twitter post on Monday, Zhao also seemed to recognize the distinction.
“Don’t worry about the leaderboards. Focus on how many people you can help, ”he wrote. Mr. Zhao followed up on Tuesday with another tweet, saying, “Unpopular opinion: instead of wealth rankings, there should be a ranking of charity and philanthropy efforts. “
A Binance spokesperson told CNN Business that “CZ intends to give away most of its assets, even 99 percent of his wealth, just like other richest entrepreneurs and founders.
In recent years, other famous business leaders like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have signed the Giving Pledge, an initiative started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates to encourage the world’s richest to donate the bulk of their fortunes to charity.
Mr. Zhao launched Binance in 2017 and gradually made it one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.
According to a company blog post, the manager grew up in an immigrant family in Canada and previously worked at McDonald’s to support his home.
After studying computer science at McGill University, he worked in trading software for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg. “He then found out about Bitcoin in 2013 during a game of poker and decided to pursue cryptocurrencies by dedicating his life to it,” said Binance. “He even sold his apartment to buy Bitcoin. Like other exchanges, Binance has faced significant regulatory hurdles around the world in recent months, including a ban in the UK and other restrictions in countries like Canada.
Mr. Zhao has publicly addressed setbacks and wrote in an open letter last year that “clear regulations are critical to continued growth.” Additional regulations are indeed positive signs that an industry is maturing, he added.Cryptocurrency Bitcoin Finance Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg Money World China Canada.
