Speaking of Zhao Changpeng, it can be said to be a legendary story. From an unknown little person, he became the richest Chinese man with a net worth of 90 billion US dollars. People often use "evil" to describe his counterattack life. All this is because he got acquainted with the cryptocurrency - Bitcoin.
Zhao Changpeng was born in a small village near Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province. When he was 10 years old, he followed his parents and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, and became a Chinese Canadian. He was obsessed with the Internet since he was a child, and he also showed extraordinary talent in this area. In 1995, he received an admission letter from McGill University and went to Montreal for further studies. He majored in computer science.
In 2001, while still in school, he interned at an IT company in Tokyo for a year. After graduation, he worked in Tokyo for four years on exchange systems. During this time, he developed a strong interest in exchanges. For various reasons, he moved to Shanghai in 2005 and founded his first company in Shanghai, specializing in building high-frequency trading systems. In no time, his reputation spread throughout the industry.
By chance, he first came into contact with Bitcoin in 2013. This led him to a life of cheating in the field of cryptocurrency. In March, Zhao Changpeng met Xu Mingxing, the founder of a domestic Bitcoin exchange, at a party. The two had a great conversation and appreciated each other. Soon, Zhao Changpeng joined Xu Mingxing's team and served as technical director, responsible for the company's international affairs. However, the good times did not last long. Because of the disagreement between the two in business, Zhao Changpeng left the company after working for less than a year.
In July 2017, Zhao Changpeng founded BN and hastily launched the exchange after raising only $15 million in funding. However, under his diligent management, the platform quickly became popular among users. Moreover, on January 10, 2018, BN announced that it had more than 5 million registered users worldwide and a daily trading volume of $10 billion. It has become one of the most famous exchanges in the world.
BN's counterattack speed is astonishing. It caused a sensation in the circle. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a dark horse in the industry. 42 days after the exchange was released, its trading volume ranked tenth in the world. On the 92nd day, it was already ranked fifth in the world. The rise was very fast, and it was not over yet. On the 156th day, it rose to third. Finally, after 165 days, BN became the world's largest exchange. This status has been maintained to this day. Compared with Sun Yuchen's character, Zhao Changpeng can beat him by several streets.
In June 2021, BN Exchange's total annual revenue exceeded 7 trillion US dollars, bringing the company a profit of 12.3 billion US dollars. Even in the bear market in 2022, BN's average daily trading volume is still as high as 65 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to half of the average daily trading volume of the A-share market in 2022 and more than 4 times that of the Hong Kong stock market.
However, on the evening of June 5, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought BN and its founder Zhao Changpeng to court. The SEC filed 13 charges, accusing Zhao Changpeng and BN of engaging in extensive fraud, suspected of market manipulation, concealing business facts, and deliberately circumventing the law. As a result, within just one day of being sued, Zhao Changpeng's net worth plummeted from US$27.4 billion to US$10.5 billion. This shows that there are still legal and regulatory challenges in the virtual currency market.
Currently, Zhao Changpeng has moved to Dubai and has a good relationship with the local royal family. The OKX exchange run by Xu Mingxing is also the world's leading cryptocurrency trading platform. It is not an exaggeration to describe Zhao Changpeng's growth experience as a demon.