Changpeng Zhao, generally known as CZ is the founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Binance. He is a Chinese-born Canadian coder who is famous for his undisputed contributions to the cryptocurrency world.
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange which was founded in 2017 by none other than Changpeng Zhao. he was born in Lianyungang a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, China. His family emigrated to Canada in the late 1980s where he worked as a fast food clerk at McDonald’s restaurant. He had to be relieved from the CEO position of Binance in November 2023 after finding guilty in a money laundering case in the United States of America. He had to face a four-month sentence in prison in April 2024 and completed his servings by September 2024.
Early Life And Education
Changpeng Zhao was born on February 5, 1977 in Lianyungang. He is a Canadian and UAE citizen. His family was exiled from China and moved to Canada in the late 1980s when he was 12 years old. His father was a professor in China and later, he was called a “pro-bourgeoise intellect” and had been exiled from his country. The family was forced to emigrate to Vancouver, Canada, and CZ managed to acquire his Canadian visa in 1989 and became a Canadian citizen. In his teenage years, CZ helped and supported his family by working in various industry jobs and restaurants like McDonalds. He completed his graduate degree in computer science from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Career
CZ started his career working for the Tokyo Stock Exchange as a software developer for matching trade orders. Then he worked at Bloomberg Tradebook, a firm that develops futures trading software. CZ left the Bloomberg Tradebook as head in 2005. CZ then moved to Shanghai to build some of the fastest high-frequency trading systems exclusively designed for brokers.
Changpeng Zhao managed to hear about Bitcoin in early 2013 when he was playing poker with his friends, after that he intensely delved into Bitcoin by reading its whole whitepaper. He completely moved on to cryptocurrency in 2013 December, and after that, his life began to change when he met Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum at a conference in Las Vegas.
He explained this incident, In December 2013, he mentioned that he went to a conference in Las Vegas and bumped into Vitalik Buterin, one of the founders of Ethereum. He noted that there was another quite influential guy, and he was learning Ripple at that time. He explained that the guy came over with a laptop to show him how it worked, and in the process, he transferred $500 worth of Ripple’s token, XRP, to him and told him that he could use it to teach the next person. He reflected that it seemed like a pretty generous group of people who were not really after the money but were genuinely interested in teaching. Shortly after that, he stated that he quit his job and sold his house.
After the incident, CZ quit his job and sold his house to take part in the cryptocurrency arena. He began his crypto journey by working on various projects including Blockchain.com, and OKCoin.
Changpeng Zhao And Binance
Changpeng Zhao launched Binance on July 14, 2017, right after leaving OKCoin. Binance was coined from the combination of two words, ‘binary’ and ‘finance’. Binance managed to raise $15 million during its initial coin offering and was a huge success in the cryptocurrency landscape. Binance already become the largest cryptocurrency exchange just one year after its official launch. 2018 was a golden year for Binance and CZ, they managed to secure the top position and acquired Trust Wallet, an Ethereum Wallet app to enhance their services and security.
In 2019, Binance was able to partner up with Simplex to provide debit and credit card provisions in crypto purchases. Binance acquired CoinMarketCap, a leading cryptocurrency data tracking platform for a sum of $400 million. They purchased it in 2020 and were able to launch their Binance Smart Chain (BSC) in the same year. CZ was an influential figure in the enhanced growth of Binance and played a crucial role in enlarging the ecosystem wider and wider.
Money Laundering Accusations And Lawsuits
Binance was accused of not implementing subsequent measures to prevent money laundering. It has led to multiple investigations and criminal charges against the CEO, Changpeng Zhao. Later, CZ pleaded guilty to money laundering charges and Binance had to pay $4.3 billion in settlements for the violations of the compliances. The fine was the largest corporate penalty in United States Treasury history. These incidents have incited the dethroning of Changpeng Zhao from the CEO position, he resigned from Binance on November 21, 2023.
Awards And Recognition
- 2018 – Nominee for Golden Token Awards
- 2018 – CEO of the Year
The Bottom Line
Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency Binance was like God Prometheus, he created an invaluable thing for humanity and got destroyed by the same thing. Binance is still one of the notable innovations in the cryptocurrency world. Changpeng Zhao is a key figure in the cryptocurrency realm having a worth of more than $30 billion. Changpeng Zhao’s journey reflects the volatility and uncertainty of the crypto sphere. His life amplifies the need to follow regulatory compliances in the cryptocurrency industry.
