In January, his estimated net worth reached at least $96 billion, putting him in the ranks of leaders such as Oracle Zhao catapulted to mainstream attention earlier this year as he became one of the richest people on Earth. We are an easy target for special interests, media, and even policymakers that hate our industry,” he wrote in a recent blog post.Īs of September, Binance had subsidiaries in countries including Spain, Italy, France, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, Zhao added.īinance CEO Changpeng Zhao attending the Viva Technology conference in Paris on June 16, 2022. “The inference is that because we have ethnically Chinese employees, and perhaps because I am ethnically Chinese, we are secretly in the pocket of the Chinese government. Zhao has spoken out about some of the company’s challenges, saying that as a Chinese-born business leader he has faced undue suspicion. The lawmakers had summoned the 29-year-old multi-billionaire on Wednesday to discuss the regulation of digital assets in his capacity as co-founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images) Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty ImagesĬrypto crisis continues. Sam Bankman-Fried donned a suit and tie this week, abandoning his preferred hoodie and dark T-shirt for a hearing before US Senators. This illustration photo shows a smart phone screen displaying the logo of FTX, the crypto exchange platform, with a screen showing the FTX website in the background in Arlington, Virginia on February 10, 2022. Last week, Zhao addressed speculation about the company’s status in the city, writing on Twitter that Binance was “not banned, just no license yet.” The company is also on an investor alert list in Singapore, where the central bank has warned that it is not licensed or regulated locally. Like other exchanges, Binance has faced significant regulatory hurdles around the world in recent years, including a ban in the United Kingdom and other restrictions in countries including Canada. “He even sold his apartment to buy bitcoin.” “He then learned about bitcoin in 2013 during a game of poker, after which he decided to go all-in on crypto by dedicating his life to it,” according to Binance. Patricia De melo Moreira/AFP/Getty ImagesĬrypto CEO warns his industry faces 2008-style crisis, calls regulator scrutiny 'a good thing'Īfter studying computer science at McGill University, he worked on trading software for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg. Zhao spent his teenage years in Vancouver and previously worked at McDonald’s to help support his family.īinance Co-Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks during a press conference at the Europe's largest tech conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon on November 2, 2022. He described waiting for three days outside the Canadian embassy for a visa, taking turns with his family at night to keep their place in line. Zhao said it was “before Binance could even be properly established” or incorporated in the country.įour years later, in September 2021, the Chinese authorities declared all cryptocurrency-related business activities illegal and vowed to clamp down on illicit activities involving digital currencies.Īccording to company blog posts, Zhao was born in China, lived in the central province of Anhui, and, at age 12, emigrated to Canada with his mother in 1989. In September of that year, according to a company blog, most of its employees left the country after the Chinese government issued a memo banning crypto exchanges. Zhao launched Binance in July 2017 in China, gradually building it into the world’s largest crypto exchange. Zhao announced Monday that to mitigate any further damage from the collapse of FTX, his team would establish “an industry recovery fund, to help projects who are otherwise strong, but in a liquidity crisis.”īinance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, would welcome other industry players who’d like to participate as cash investors, he said on Twitter. The company went bankrupt two days later. Zhao, who goes by his initials “CZ,” made his pitch just days after rescinding an offer to help bail out one of the biggest firms in the space, FTX. The Canadian billionaire has made headlines this week for offering to come to the aid of entrepreneurs who are facing a cash crunch, in efforts to help “rebuild” the sector. Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao is once again in the global spotlight, this time as the self-appointed white knight of crypto as the industry is embroiled in crisis.
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