According to recent estimates, Changpeng Zhao, better known by his nickname CZ, would become one of the richest men in the world. Indeed the CEO of Binance sees his fortune estimated at more than 96 billion dollars. And unlike his company that continues to pile up bitcoins, this amount does not take into account his crypto wallet!
A fortune greater than that of the creator of Bitcoin?
If Bloomberg is to be believed, at only 44 years old, the founder of Binance continues to claw his way up the rankings of the world’s richest men, trying to catch up to Jeff Bezos (189 billion) and Elon Musk (263 billion), but already ahead of the creator of Bitcoin.
It is estimated that Satoshi Nakamoto’s wallet contains 1.1 million BTC, with an estimated value of $45 billion: therefore, one could estimate that CZ has just overtaken the creator of Bitcoin!
And still, this first estimate of the fortune of the boss of Binance does not take into account his crypto portfolio: the latter contains a good part of bitcoins and the flagship crypto of his company, the BNB.
Despite this colossal fortune (it would take you more than 263 years to spend it all at a rate of 1 million per day), CZ remains humble and displays a “simple” lifestyle on Twitter.
Interviewed in November 2021 by Erik Schatzker, the founder of Binance who was asked about his fortune simply replied:
“I don’t care about wealth, money, rankings.”
Billionaire desperately seeking country
Although well ahead of Brian Armstrong (CEO of Coinbase) with $9.6 billion, or Sam Bankman-Fried (CEO of FTX) who is worth $22 billion, the young Chinese billionaire continues to grow his business.
Far from resting on his laurels, the crypto-boss has been showing up in various more or less exotic locations in recent months, in order to look for a place to domicile Binance after buying his first home in Dubai. Indeed after trying to seduce France in 2021 , Changpeng Zhao is currently looking for the right place to establish its headquarters in order to be able to comply with current and future rules related to regulation.
With his sights set on Ireland, the CEO of one of the world’s largest exchanges will be able to continue to grow his fortune, with Binance generating more than $20 billion in revenue by 2021.
Despite his initial desire not to have a strict headquarters because for him the concept is outdated, the year 2022 will be the year of CZ for sure! Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he doesn’t make a massive “buy the dip” that would send the price of our favorite cryptos plummeting!