The founder of the top cryptocurrency exchange #Binance, a man who rose from an unknown to the richest Chinese in four years! A gambler with a net worth of#500billion, who sold his house to win the game! An investor with no fixed place to live!

Today we will talk about his life story.

Zhao Changpeng, a person who needs no introduction in the cryptocurrency circle, was listed as the "richest man in cryptocurrency" by Forbes Magazine in February 2018, and his net worth exceeded $1.39 billion in May 2018. The story of everything started in 1977.

That year, along the Blue River in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, one of the most important sons of the land was born.

In the late 1980s, Zhao Changpeng moved to Vancouver, Canada with his family. His father was a professor in China who was later labeled a "pro-bourgeois intellectual" and expelled from the country. In his teens, Zhao Changpeng worked a series of hard and poorly paid jobs as an employee at McDonald's and a gas station. But the boy with extraordinary intelligence and vision eventually stood out, and he later enrolled at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, majoring in computer science.

This boy's personality, intelligence, and character are unmatched, traits we often see in giants like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. We compare Zhao Changpeng to the god of this mysterious, beautiful, supernatural mountain, which has purple and golden clouds at sunrise and sunset; we describe Zhao Changpeng with a sentence that summarizes the ambition, strength, and character of this extraordinary boy: "Give me a foothold, and I will move the world."

After graduating from college, Zhao Changpeng spent some time in Tokyo and New York, where he built a system to merge commercial orders with the Tokyo Stock Exchange and then with Bloomberg's Tradebook, where he developed futures trading software. During this time, the 25-year-old programmer was promoted three times in less than two years, and after managing teams in New Jersey, London and Tokyo, Zhao Changpeng still became impatient. So in 2005, he stopped these jobs and moved to Shanghai to start his own company, Sistem Fusion, which is famous for building some high-frequency trading F systems.

Changpeng Zhao started bouncing between various important cryptocurrency projects in 2013 after learning about Bitcoin from a venture capitalist he played poker with. He joined Blockchain.info as the third member of the cryptocurrency wallet team and worked closely with well-known Bitcoin evangelists Roger Ver and Ben Reeves as the head of development for 8 months. He also spent less than a year as the CTO at OKCoin, a spot trading platform between digital assets.

From here on, Zhao Changpeng continued to achieve victory and honor. His life was full of teaching, sacrifice, love and passion!

He founded Binance in July 2017, launching the exchange 11 days after its $15 million ICO. The platform proved almost immediately popular with users, and at its peak a few months ago, it was trading as much as $11 billion a day.

“New opportunities always emerge in times of change.”

In the private Bitcoin community, we admire many people like "CZ" because he represents our ideals and the cryptocurrencies we are passionate about in reality. There has been a lot of discussion on social media, and we will continue to discuss the future and development of Binance.

John McAfee helped build our marketing strategy, creating many of the memes. Alex Barbulescu (Alex_TNT) is a friend of ours and a member of the BTCP community of at least 52,000 people. Alex did this despite some members of CTCP advising him not to do so. These banners involve CZ. Regardless, he believes in the life-changing work CZ is doing. CZ can help change the lives of millions of people through his work. He also created Binance Labs, which may one day create the next Google or Facebook for the blockchain industry. This project is currently led by Ella Zhang, who has set 3 goals:

1) Change people’s lives;

2) Change financial institutions;

3) Change the world.

Reading the three points listed above, we see what he wants to express, this is an ambitious project that did not create a large ICO to raise funds, but it is made up of a talented team. One thing that the members of the team and members of our community like is that it is a subsidiary project of Binance.

So why did CZ create Binance and its BINANCE LAB? We in the BTCP community are interested in CZ because, as the founder of Binance, he is a visionary and believes in the cryptocurrency revolution that will eventually happen. Binance Labs is a "social impact" fund. It is an initiative to incubate, invest in, and empower the best entrepreneurs, projects, and communities in blockchain and cryptocurrency. Binance Labs is not a profit-oriented fund, but a strategic fund focused on impact, mission, and passion for the entire ecosystem, not just Binance. BINANCE LAB's mission is to solve the problems that matter most to the ecosystem and improve the world.

On November 30, 2021, the media reported that Zhao Changpeng's net worth reached 90 billion US dollars (about 573.3 billion yuan), surpassing Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, and became the richest Chinese. Although Zhao Changpeng's net worth plummeted by 90% due to the sharp decline in the market value of cryptocurrencies, he is still a billionaire, and in fact no one can tell how much money he has.

Where is this billionaire targeted by the SEC now? It has become a mystery.

Some media reported that Binance's competitors had hired private detectives to find Zhao Changpeng's whereabouts, but the private detective team "had made great efforts to track Zhao Changpeng but failed. He suspected that Binance had hired others to cover up Zhao Changpeng's past and whereabouts, making him almost impossible to detect."

This narrative is full of spy film colors, so much so that when Zuihua asked insider A where Zhao Changpeng was, he was expecting a bizarre answer. As a result, the insider said, "He is in France, Dubai, and Singapore in turn."

Although not married, Zhao Changpeng's partner He Yi is pregnant with his third child. The first two are boys, at least one of whom was born in the U.S. Although the child is American, Zhao Changpeng can no longer set foot in the United States. At the same time, although Zhao Changpeng was born in China, he is unlikely to return to China.

This seems to be a metaphor for his identity. He was born in China, grew up in Canada, and went to university in French-speaking Montreal. After dropping out of school, he interned at the Tokyo Stock Exchange during the summer and then became a full-time employee. He then moved to New York to work at Bloomberg Trading Company, and later returned to China to start a business in Shanghai. After entering the cryptocurrency industry by chance, his life gradually became "crazy". After the cryptocurrency was severely cracked down, he fled to Tokyo with He Yi and his team, then went to Malta, and then to Singapore. After being expelled from Singapore, he went to Vietnam, and traveled around the world except the United States and China.

Although Zhao Changpeng and his Binance have been expelled by regulators in many countries, this huge cryptocurrency exchange empire is still running. Insider B told "Zuihua" that there are Binance employees in Paris, Dubai, London, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Berlin, Taipei, Hong Kong, and even in the United States, Canada, Africa and some Asian countries. Zhao Changpeng said that Binance is operating in a "decentralized" manner and does not have a physical headquarters.

Zhao Changpeng uses Twitter for marketing and communication with "investors", and manages Binance with an internal communication app that changes frequently. Ordinary employees can hardly see him in person, but everyone knows that Binance's management is "decentralized" just to hide traces, and everything is still under his command. He is in control of this digital token exchange with a daily trading volume of tens of billions of dollars in an invisible place, and tries to trade with various parties in an even more invisible place, trying to get a legal license.

Only with a license plate can he temporarily stop wandering.

Troublemaker

To the general public in China, Zhao Changpeng is an unfamiliar name, and Binance is a company whose name is almost unheard of.

In 2017, China officially introduced regulations prohibiting institutions from providing trading services related to Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Zhao Changpeng and Binance almost disappeared from the mainland market, and the company's business was all transferred overseas.

Although he left the mainland market, Zhao Changpeng could not escape regulation. After all, in most countries in the world, virtual currency is a business that walks in a gray area.

Zhao Changpeng, nicknamed "CZ", surfs the social media platform almost every day. He has 8.5 million followers on Twitter and is the top Chinese influencer.

The significant influence in the online world cannot help CZ find a stable office in the real world. Over the past few years, Binance has been "wandering offices" in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, and Cambodia, and the platform data also needs to be switched back and forth between multiple cloud servers.

The regulatory pursuit has not dampened the enthusiasm of some fanatical users for cryptocurrencies. The crazy market of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for a period of time has attracted more people to this industry where it is difficult to explain the business model and true value. Binance's influence in the currency circle continues to rise.

After being ordered to leave by the Japanese Financial Services Agency, Singapore once "took in" Changpeng Zhao. As the financial center of Southeast Asia, Singapore has always been "financially open". After the rise of cryptocurrency, Singapore tried to lead this wave and maintain its position as the financial center of Southeast Asia, attracting web3 and cryptocurrency entrepreneurs from Europe, the United States and China. It became a trend for a while, and you can meet various "famous people" in the cryptocurrency field in Singapore. Changpeng Zhao lived in Singapore for a period of time, and often rode a scooter to work.

However, with the emergence of incidents such as the collapse of cryptocurrencies, European and American regulators have tightened their supervision of cryptocurrencies and exchanges. Singapore regulators have found themselves in a dilemma: on the one hand, if they allow the development of cryptocurrencies, it will be contrary to the attitudes of major countries such as Europe, the United States, and China, and they may face pressure from global regulatory synchronization in the future; on the other hand, if they join the camp of tightening regulation, they may miss out on "financial technology opportunities". After all, the average daily trading volume of global cryptocurrencies exceeded US$100 billion at its peak.

In January 2020, Singapore passed the Payment Services Act (PSA), which requires all crypto exchanges operating in Singapore to register and obtain licenses in an attempt to more effectively manage cryptocurrencies and exchanges. On September 2, 2021, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) listed 699 companies, including Binance, on the Investor Alert List for possible violations of the PSA. Four days later, Binance announced the suspension of its services in Singapore.

Person A familiar with the matter said that the relationship between Zhao Changpeng, Binance and the Singapore regulatory authorities eventually broke down because of the FTX exchange collapse.

In November 2022, Alameda Research, a hedge fund managed by Sam Bankman-Fried (hereinafter referred to as SBF), the CEO of the digital currency trading platform FTX, was exposed to serious financial risks. On the 6th of that month, Zhao Changpeng announced that "we will sell all FTT (FTX tokens) on the books." Binance's move to sell its $530 million FTT triggered a run on FTX users and a wave of FTT selling. In just two days, FTT fell 84%.

Zhao Changpeng is one of the earliest investors of FTX. In order to apply for a license, FTX has been asking Binance to provide Zhao Changpeng's source of wealth, banking relationships, and Binance's ownership distribution relationship. Binance ignored it, and the relationship between the two parties deteriorated. Subsequently, FTX took back Zhao Changpeng's shares at a high price.

When the FTX crisis intensified, SBF had to ask Zhao Changpeng for help and hoped that Binance would acquire FTX. Zhao Changpeng agreed the day before, but only one day later, on December 10, Zhao Changpeng announced the cancellation of the acquisition of FTX. FTX had to stop user withdrawals, and FTX was accelerated to run. On the 11th, FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy protection, and SBF resigned as CEO of FTX.

As the investigation deepened, the Ponzi scheme constructed by the SBF team gradually surfaced, and SBF could be sentenced to up to 115 years in prison.

Zhao Changpeng once seemed happy about the disappearance and "revenge" of his competitors. He tweeted, "Cryptocurrency will not die. We are still here, and we will rebuild together." Binance naturally accepted users transferred from FTX.

But the collapse of FTX caused a lot of waves.

Not only did many well-known institutional investors such as Sequoia Capital and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan suffer huge losses due to "stepping on thunder", but the Singapore government and its regulated Temasek Holdings were also forced to face inquiries. Data shows that Singapore users account for 5% of FTX's global traffic, with an average of 241,600 independent users per month. According to official data released by the Singapore Statistics Bureau, as of June this year, Singapore's total population was 5.637 million.

This means that more than 4.2% of the population in Singapore may have been affected by the FTX crash, making it the second most affected country in the world. According to public reports, Temasek Holdings was forced to write down its entire $275 million investment in FTX due to the FTX crash.

Informed person A told "Zuihua" that the Singapore regulatory authorities originally required cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Singapore to prohibit serving local residents, but they could recruit customers other than Singaporean nationals. They want both economic benefits and risks.

This tacit understanding was broken after the FTX crash. Singapore discovered that many of its citizens actually participated in the transaction through round-trip routes, creating huge risks.

Zhao Changpeng's actions accelerated the collapse of FTX, and the retail investors who participated in the "investment" had no time to escape, and the big investors lost hundreds of millions of dollars and were criticized. After suffering huge losses in Singapore, the attitude towards Zhao Changpeng changed 180 degrees, and he became an unpopular person.

Less than two weeks after FTX declared bankruptcy, the Singapore Police Force launched a financial crime investigation into Binance. According to person A, Zhao Chengpeng and his team were issued an expulsion order.

FTX's bankruptcy allowed Binance to gain its customers, but Zhao Changpeng soon realized that his pursuit of compliant operations had become even more distant. He said in a letter to all employees: "The FTX incident is not a good thing for anyone in the industry. Please don't see this as a victory for us. User confidence has been severely undermined."

Since then, Zhao Changpeng's whereabouts have become increasingly mysterious.

Errenzhuan

According to statistics, by the end of 2022, Binance has more than 120 million users and a daily trading volume of tens of billions of dollars, making it the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. BNB, the cryptocurrency issued by Binance, is the world's fourth largest cryptocurrency in terms of market value.

In the field of cryptocurrency, exchanges founded by Chinese people such as Binance, Huobi, and OKCoin have emerged as a new force. In addition to their aggressive and diverse gameplay, another important reason is that they can win. A cryptocurrency player told "Zuihua" that "the competition among global cryptocurrency exchanges is very fierce, and the requirements for manpower, customer service, and security are very high. Only Chinese people can achieve the ultimate in this service industry. To give a simple example, exchanges founded by foreigners cannot provide 24-hour customer service. If there is a problem, we can only send them an email, and it may take a week or two for them to deal with the problem. Who can stand this? But exchanges opened by Chinese people can respond online 24 hours a day."

This statement was confirmed by insider B. He said, "It's not necessarily that the boss said that he must recruit Chinese people, but if you are Chinese, you are willing to recruit Chinese people. Binance itself is a company with very Chinese management style."

Although the cryptocurrency field faces increasingly stringent regulation and uncertainty, it has attracted many people to join in the bleak employment environment in recent years. The total number of Binance employees has expanded rapidly, reaching about 8,000 at one point. The company's management has not kept up and suffered from "big company disease", with chaotic internal processes, many new businesses not fully finalized, and internal friction intensified. Binance's "decentralization" of internal communication has exacerbated the chaos to a certain extent. For "safety", Binance often changes internal communication software.

According to insider B, Binance is very competitive, and if you want to be "noticed" by the boss, you have to perform well. The boss also intends to strengthen this competitive atmosphere, "Some people are tired of this endless competition. There will be a rotation every few months. What's the point of winning?"

Zhao Changpeng also tried to "internationalize". Binance once recruited some foreign employees, including middle-level and senior executives. These employees had a little difficulty adapting to the culture, and many of them were eventually laid off. Insider B said, "In the past three or four months, people have left their company (Binance) one after another, and the people who attend meetings often change. Maybe all big companies are like this, of course, it may not be so outstanding."

The company has seen a large influx of personnel within a year, Binance.