Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao
Zhao speaking at the 2022 NFT Summit
Born (1977-02-05) February 5, 1977 (age 47)
NationalityCanadian, UAE
Other namesCZ
Alma materMcGill University (BSc.)
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • investor
  • software engineer
Known forCo-founder and former CEO of Binance
Spouse
Yang Weiqing
(m. 2003)
PartnerHe Yi (2014–)
Children5
Changpeng Zhao
Traditional Chinese趙長鵬
Simplified Chinese赵长鹏
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhào Chángpéng

Changpeng Zhao (Chinese: 赵长鹏; pinyin: Zhào Chángpéng), commonly known as CZ, is a Chinese-born Canadian businessman. Zhao is the co-founder and former CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume as of July 2024.[2] He 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.[3][4] As of Aug. 22, 2024, the US Federal Bureau of Prisons listed the former Binance CEO as an inmate of the Residential Reentry Management Long Beach field office.[5]

According to Forbes, Zhao was ranked the 26th-richest person in the world, and richest Canadian overall, with a net worth estimated at $57.3 billion as of July 2024.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference RStone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Sigalos, MacKenzie; Browne, Ryan (November 22, 2023). "Binance users pull more than $1 billion from the exchange after CEO leaves, pleads guilty". CNBC. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference wsjNov23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Browne, MacKenzie Sigalos,Ryan (2024-04-30). "Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to 4 months in prison after plea deal". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2024-04-30. Retrieved 2024-04-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Wright, Turner (2024-08-22). "Changpeng Zhao moved to custody of field office ahead of Sept release". cointelegraph. Archived from the original on 2024-08-23. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  6. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.