Changpeng Zhao is an entrepreneur who works in the blockchain industry.
Zhao is the founder and CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume as of April 2018. Zhao was previously a member of the team that developed Blockchain.info and also served as chief technology officer of OKCoin. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth is estimated at $96 billion as of January 2022, making him the richest person in Canada & the world’s 11th richest person.
Zhao was born on September 10, 1977, in China’s Jiangsu province. In the late 1980s, he moved with his family to Canada when he was 12 years of age, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia.
In 2017, Zhao left OKCoin to launch a cryptocurrency exchange named Binance. The company was launched in July 2017, after raising $15 million in an initial coin offering. In less than eight months, Zhao grew Binance into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, as of April 2018. Zhao also launched blockchain network Binance Smart Chain that has made significant contribution to the development of the decentralized finance industry.