Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, is an entrepreneur who is most well-known for founding the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. He was born in China and has Canadian citizenship. CZ studied at McGill University in Montreal before starting his career in finance and cryptocurrency.

CZ began his career in 2001 at Bloomberg in New York City, where he was the head of Tradebook futures development. After he left Bloomberg in 2005, he cofounded Fusion Systems, a business consultancy firm, where he also acted as partner. He remained there until 2013, when he became the head of development at Blockchain.

In 2015, CZ ventured into entrepreneurship by founding his first company, Bijie Tech, located in Asia. The company was an exchange systems provider and was shut down in March 2017 by the Chinese government.

CZ founded his next company, Binance, in 2017. The company is a cryptocurrency exchange and quickly grew to be the platform where the majority of cryptocurrency exchanges took place. In 2021, CZ was named as one of Singapore's 50 Richest people by Forbes.

In March 2023, CZ was sued by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC charged him with willful evasion of federal law and operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange. The commission is accusing CZ and others at Binance of growing the business in the United States, knowing that they would eventually block access to the platform for customers in the country.

The United States Department of Justice has also accused CZ's company, Binance, of money laundering offenses.In June 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed charges against CZ and Binance entities. Some of the charges include the unregistered offer and sale of securities as well as allowing high-value customers from the United States to transact on the platform when they were supposed to be restricted.