Changpeng Zhao

Early life and immigration to Canada

Changpeng Zhao was born in 1977 in Ganyu, a county in China's Jiangsu province, to parents who were both schoolteachers. His father, Zhao Shengkai, worked as a university instructor before being labelled a 'pro-bourgeois intellect' and sent to a rural area shortly after Zhao's birth, an event that shaped the family's early circumstances. In late 1989, following the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the 12-year-old Zhao and his family emigrated to Canada after obtaining visas. They settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Zhao took on service jobs during his teenage years to help support his family, including working at a McDonald's restaurant and a gas station. He later attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, graduating with a degree in computer science, which laid the foundation for his future career in technology and finance. His acquisition of Canadian citizenship around 1992 solidified his status as a Canadian national, a fact he has highlighted in interviews.

Early career and entry into cryptocurrency

After graduating from McGill, Zhao began his career with an internship in Tokyo, developing software for matching trade orders for a subcontractor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He then spent four years at Bloomberg Tradebook in New York as a developer of futures trading software, gaining critical experience in financial technology. In 2005, Zhao moved to Shanghai to launch his first technology startup, Fusion Systems, which was known for building some of the fastest automated high-frequency trading platforms for stockbrokers. His introduction to cryptocurrency came in 2013 during a poker game with Bobby Lee, the future founder of BTCC and brother of Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, who advised him to invest 10 percent of his net worth. Zhao instead 'went all in,' selling his Shanghai apartment and investing all of his wealth into Bitcoin, a move that dismayed his family. He subsequently joined several crypto projects, serving as the third team member and head of development at Blockchain.info for eight months and as chief technology officer at the exchange OKCoin for less than a year before founding his own venture.

Founding and meteoric growth of Binance

Zhao co-founded the Binance cryptocurrency exchange in July 2017. The platform raised $15 million through an initial coin offering and began trading just eleven days after launch, demonstrating remarkable speed to market. Under Zhao's leadership, Binance grew at an unprecedented rate, becoming the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume within eight months, a position it has largely maintained. The company launched its own utility token, Binance Coin (BNB), in 2017, which provides holders benefits like trading fee discounts. In a strategic expansion in April 2019, Binance launched the Binance Smart Chain, an Ethereum competitor with smart contract functionality. Zhao also oversaw the creation of Binance's U.S. affiliate, Binance.US, in 2019 to cater to the American market, though the parent exchange withdrew its application to operate in Singapore in 2021. In a notable 2022 transaction demonstrating his influence, Zhao invested $500 million through Binance to help finance Elon Musk's acquisition of the social media platform Twitter. His success was recognized early by Forbes, which placed him third on its list of the richest people in cryptocurrency in February 2018, with an estimated net worth of $1.1 to $2 billion.

Mounting legal challenges and regulatory actions

Binance and Zhao faced escalating legal scrutiny from multiple U.S. regulatory bodies. In March 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against them in Illinois, alleging willful evasion of U.S. law and breaches of derivatives rules. The complaint accused Binance of breaking anti-money laundering rules, citing internal communications about transactions by Hamas and other suspected criminals. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) followed with its own lawsuit in June 2023, levying 13 charges for alleged violations of securities rules. In November 2024, the bankrupt exchange FTX filed a lawsuit against Binance Holdings Ltd., Zhao, and other executives, seeking to recover nearly $1.8 billion allegedly fraudulently transferred in a July 2021 stock repurchase transaction involving FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Beyond the United States, in June 2026, Zhao was named as a defendant in proceedings in the High Court in London brought by nearly 1,700 UK investors alleging Binance unlawfully offered cryptocurrency derivatives without authorisation. By September 2026, that claim had grown to 2,700 claimants seeking over £250 million in damages.

Criminal guilty plea, sentencing, and imprisonment

The most serious legal action came from the U.S. Department of Justice in November 2023. Zhao agreed to resign as Binance's CEO, plead guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, and pay a $50 million personal fine. As part of the plea bargain, Binance also pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, agreeing to pay $4.3 billion in fines. Zhao was replaced as CEO by Richard Teng. During sentencing arguments, Zhao's defense attorneys noted that BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes had received only probation for a similar crime and argued that Zhao's ineligibility for minimum-security imprisonment put his safety at risk. In April 2024, Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison by a federal court in Seattle, a term significantly lower than the three years prosecutors had sought. He served his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc I, in California and was released from custody on September 27, 2024, according to Bureau of Prisons records.

The campaign for and controversy of the presidential pardon

In October 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump granted Zhao a full presidential pardon. Reporting by The Wall Street Journal in March and August 2025 had uncovered that Binance was in business talks with the Trump family and was quietly administering a trading platform for Trump's World Liberty Financial. The New York Times reported that month that Zhao was campaigning for a pardon, with Binance having spent $800,000 on lobbying for clemency and other U.S. policy issues. A lobbyist hired by Zhao, Ches McDowell, met with Trump after an introduction by Donald Trump Jr. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated the pardon was justified because Zhao was prosecuted in the Biden administration's 'war on cryptocurrency' with no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims, calling the original sentencing request extreme. Zhao expressed deep gratitude on social media. In a later interview with 60 Minutes on October 31, 2025, Trump claimed he had 'no idea' who Zhao was and called the prosecution a 'Biden witch hunt'. The pardon was sharply criticized by Democrats and some Republicans as an act of brazen corruption, while Zhao's lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, called such criticism an unlawful attempt to usurp the president's constitutional pardon power.

Post-pardon activities and international advisory roles

Following his pardon, Zhao remained an active and influential voice in the crypto industry. He published a memoir titled 'Freedom of Money: A Memoir of Protecting Users, Resilience, and the Founding of Binance' in April 2026. The 364-page book, written largely during his incarceration, details his childhood, immigration, and the founding of Binance, along with his perspective on the legal settlement and the collapse of competitors like FTX. Zhao pledged to donate 100 percent of the author royalties to his educational non-profit, Giggle Academy, which focuses on free learning for children worldwide. He has also taken on formal international advisory roles. On April 7, 2024, he was appointed by the Pakistan Ministry of Finance as a strategic advisor to the Pakistan Crypto Council. On May 3, 2025, he was appointed as an advisor to the president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, on the development of digital assets, indicating his continued sought-after expertise in the field despite his legal history.

Personal life, wealth, and philanthropic philosophy

Changpeng Zhao is a citizen of both Canada and the United Arab Emirates, having acquired Canadian citizenship around 1992 after immigrating. He currently resides in a villa in Abu Dhabi. He met his wife Yang Weiqing in 1999 and they married in 2003, divorcing around 2005 when their eldest daughter was two years old. They have two children together. Since 2014, he has been in a life partnership with his business partner and fellow Binance co-founder, Yi He, with whom he has three children. Zhao has stated that nearly 100 percent of his liquid net worth is held in cryptocurrency. His net worth, estimated at $111.1 billion in April 2026, makes him a central figure in global wealth rankings. He has publicly committed to substantial philanthropic giving, announcing plans to donate between 90 and 99 percent of his wealth, following examples set by figures like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. In a 2021 statement in Singapore, Zhao clarified his political views, stating he is not a complete libertarian or anarchist and does not believe civilization is advanced enough for a world with no rules.

Questions about Changpeng Zhao

Is Changpeng Zhao a Canadian citizen?

Yes, Changpeng Zhao is a Canadian citizen. He emigrated from China to Vancouver with his family in 1989 when he was 12 years old. Zhao has stated that he acquired Canadian citizenship approximately 30 years prior to 2022, which would place his naturalization around 1992. He also holds citizenship in the United Arab Emirates, where he currently resides in Abu Dhabi.

Why was Changpeng Zhao sent to prison?

Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 after pleading guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. The charges stemmed from his failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance, prioritizing the company's growth over legal compliance. He served his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc I, in California and was released from custody on September 27, 2024. The judge's sentence was notably lower than the three years sought by prosecutors.

What is Binance and what is Zhao's role now?

Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange founded by Changpeng Zhao and others in July 2017. It rapidly grew to become the world's largest exchange by trading volume within eight months. Zhao resigned as CEO in November 2023 as part of his guilty plea with U.S. authorities and was replaced by Richard Teng. Following his pardon in 2025, Zhao remains a prominent figure and advisor internationally but does not hold an executive role at the company. He has taken advisory roles for the governments of Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.

What is the 'Freedom of Money' memoir about?

In April 2026, Zhao self-published a memoir titled 'Freedom of Money: A Memoir of Protecting Users, Resilience, and the Founding of Binance'. The 364-page book, written largely during his four-month prison term in 2024, details his childhood in rural China, immigration to Canada, and the founding and explosive growth of Binance. It also covers the company's $4.3 billion legal settlement, the collapse of FTX, and his personal reflections. Zhao has pledged to donate 100 percent of the book's author royalties to his educational charity, Giggle Academy.

How did Changpeng Zhao first get involved with Bitcoin?

Zhao first heard about bitcoin in 2013 during a poker game with Bobby Lee. Lee advised him to invest 10 percent of his money into the cryptocurrency. Instead, Zhao sold his apartment in Shanghai and invested all of his wealth into bitcoin. This decisive move marked his full entry into the cryptocurrency world.

What happened with the UK legal action against Binance and Zhao in 2026?

In June 2026, Zhao was named as a defendant in a High Court case in London. Nearly 1,700 UK investors alleged Binance unlawfully promoted cryptocurrency derivatives without authorisation. By September 2026, the claim had grown to 2,700 claimants. The claimants were seeking damages reported to exceed 250 million pounds.

Sources: Wikipedia and current public reporting, checked by the Yadude Books desk. Last updated 2026-10-19.