Changpeng Zhao
Source of wealth: Cryptocurrency exchange
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Biography
Changpeng Zhao, who goes by CZ, is the founder and former CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
The Chinese-Canadian coder cut his teeth building high-frequency trading systems for Wall Street's flash boys.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and still owns an estimated 90% of the exchange plus a stash of its BNB tokens.
In November 2023, Zhao stepped down as Binance's CEO as part of a sweeping settlement with U.S. authorities.
Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, paid a $50 million fine and served four months in prison.
He was pardoned in October 2025 by Donald Trump, whose crypto businesses have had extensive dealings with Binance.
Perspective on their fortune
Gold
Everyday luxury
A Changpeng Zhao's fortune is equivalent to 751 of gold, but this may be difficult to value, as we don't usually have a handful of gold bars in our piggy bank.
A standard gold ring typically weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18k gold.
Based on today's gold price (not taking into account the jeweler's fee, shipping, or anything else), that gold ring would be worth $556.3
Changpeng Zhao could buy 200,200,083 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and a lot of gifts!!
And if the number of rings is difficult to visualize, all these rings would need 36 trucks to transport them, But we can be almost certain that Changpeng Zhao will have enough left over to pay for the gas for those trucks.
Health
The price of life
Let's compare Changpeng Zhao's fortune with the healthcare spending of a huge country
Changpeng Zhao could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo with a population of over 105,800,000 of inhabitants for approximately 50.1 years.
But even if we compare their fortune to that of a rich country
At the other extreme, Changpeng Zhao could cover the health expenditure of Luxembourg, considered the world's most heavily invested health system, for 22.2 years
Education
Buying the future
Lowest education spending
Changpeng Zhao could assume the entire cost of the education system of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with more than 243,000,000 inhabitants for 32.8 years.
Highest education spending
But not only could he assume the cost of a poor country, Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, Changpeng Zhao could pay for it in full for 44.5 years.
Research
The monopoly of progress
Lowest research spending
Changpeng Zhao could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with more than 260,000,000 of inhabitants, for 187.5 years.
Highest research spending
But even if we compare the total wealth of Changpeng Zhao with Israel, the country that currently invests the most per capita in research in the world, it could assume the total cost of the system for 4.2 years.
Financial Assets
Monthly wealth history
Fortune comparison
Historical data not available for comparison