15 Facts About Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as CZ, is a Chinese-born Canadian businessman.

Changpeng Zhao resigned as the CEO in November 2023 after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge in the United States and was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 and completed his sentence by September of the same year.

Changpeng Zhao's father worked as a university instructor before he was branded a "pro-bourgeois intellect" and exiled to rural areas shortly after Zhao's birth.

Changpeng Zhao attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he majored in computer science.

Changpeng Zhao later went to work full-time for four years at Bloomberg Tradebook where he was a developer of futures trading software.

In 2013, Changpeng Zhao was a member of the team that developed Blockchain.

In 2022, Changpeng Zhao invested $500 million through Binance to finance the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk.

In less than eight months, Changpeng Zhao grew Binance into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.

Changpeng Zhao launched Binance Coin in 2017; this is a utility token that gives its owners various benefits, such as discounts on trading fees.

In November 2023, Changpeng Zhao agreed to resign from Binance and pay a $50 million fine as part of a guilty plea to US federal charges.

Changpeng Zhao pled guilty to violating the American Bank Secrecy Act by prioritizing Binance's growth over compliance with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's anti-money laundering requirements.

In 2022, Changpeng Zhao said that he had acquired Canadian citizenship some 30 years before, around 1992.

Changpeng Zhao stayed in China until the Chinese government banned crypto exchanges in late 2017.

Changpeng Zhao is currently based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Changpeng Zhao met his wife Yang Weiqing in 1999 and they married in 2003.