Changpeng Zhao, The CEO and founder of Binance, the leading crypto exchange by trading volume, is among the richest billionaires globally. According to a report by Bloomberg, with a fortune of $96 bln, CZ is now ahead of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Larry Page, and ranks 11th.
Related: Binance and Dubai World Trade Centre Partner to Boost Crypto
Binance was launched in 2017 and has been growing fast. CZ became a billionaire within a year of the platform’s release. As mentioned in the release, the estimation is based on the revenue of Binance in 2021 and the volume of spot and derivatives exchanges and trading fees.
Bloomberg mentioned that the estimations don't include other revenue sources of the platform such as margin trading, consulting, NFTs and technology. Zhao owns 90% of Binance according to regulatory filings.
Earlier, in November CZ said during an interview with Bloomberg that the revenue of Binance is collected by hundreds of crypto assets, which the exchange doesn't change for fiat money. As crypto prices are volatile, so is the revenue of Binance.
Along with the increasing interest and adoption of cryptos, the number of billionaires representing the crypto sector in the rankings is increasing. As per Forbes rankings, among them are FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with $18 bln, Coinbase's Brian Armstrong with $11.5 bln, Gemini's Cameron and Tylor Winklevoss with $4.3 billion, and others.