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 but was labelled a pro-bourgeois intellect shortly after Zhao's birth, leading to his exile to rural areas. In late 1989, following the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the 12-year-old Zhao and his family emigrated to Canada after acquiring visas. They settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where Zhao took on service jobs during his teenage years to help support his family, including working as a clerk at a McDonald's restaurant and at a gas station. He later attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he graduated with a degree in computer science, laying the technical foundation for his future career in finance and software development.

Career before Binance

After graduating from McGill, Zhao began his career with an internship in Tokyo, developing software for trade order matching 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 electronic financial markets. In 2005, Zhao moved to Shanghai to launch his entrepreneurial journey, founding Fusion Systems, a company that built some of the fastest automated high-frequency trading platforms and systems for stockbrokers. His introduction to cryptocurrency came in 2013 during a poker game with Bobby Lee, the future founder of BTCC and brother of Charlie Lee, who advised him to invest ten percent of his money into bitcoin. Zhao instead sold his Shanghai apartment and invested all of his wealth into bitcoin, a move that concerned his family but positioned him squarely within the emerging crypto industry. He subsequently joined Blockchain.info as its third team member and head of development for eight months and served briefly as the chief technology officer of the exchange OKCoin for less than a year, building his reputation in the crypto sector.

Founding and leading Binance

Zhao co-founded the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, which launched in July 2017 after raising $15 million in an initial coin offering. Trading began just eleven days later, and under Zhao's leadership as CEO, Binance grew to become the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume in under eight months, a position it held as of April 2018. Key products launched under his tenure include Binance Coin, a utility token offering trading fee discounts launched in 2017, and the Binance Smart Chain, a smart contract platform launched in April 2019 as a competitor to Ethereum. In 2019, Binance launched its United States affiliate, Binance.US, to cater to that market, though it withdrew an application to operate a Singapore-based exchange in 2021. Zhao's influence extended beyond Binance's core operations, as evidenced by a $500 million investment through Binance to help finance Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in 2022. His leadership saw Binance achieve a dominant market position through a focus on rapid product deployment and global expansion, though this growth later became a central issue in regulatory actions.

Legal challenges and guilty plea

Zhao and Binance faced escalating regulatory scrutiny in the United States beginning in 2023. In March 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Zhao and Binance in the Northern District of Illinois for willful evasion of U.S. law and alleged breaches of derivatives rules, accusing the exchange of breaking anti-money laundering rules and pointing to internal communications about transactions by Hamas. Three months later, in June 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a separate lawsuit with 13 charges alleging violations of securities rules. The culmination of these actions came in November 2023, when Zhao agreed to resign as CEO of Binance and plead guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and prioritizing Binance's growth over compliance. As part of the plea agreement, Zhao paid a $50 million personal fine, while Binance pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, agreeing to pay $4.3 billion in penalties. Zhao was replaced as CEO by Richard Teng. In April 2024, he was sentenced to four months in prison by a federal court in Seattle, which he served at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc I, before being released on September 27, 2024. His defense attorneys had argued that BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes received only probation for a similar crime and expressed concern about Zhao's safety in a higher-security facility.

Subsequent legal actions include a lawsuit filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in March 2023, which accused Binance and Zhao of willfully evading US law and breaching derivatives rules. In June 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Zhao and Binance on 13 charges for alleged violations of US securities rules. In November 2024, FTX filed a lawsuit against Binance and Zhao seeking to recover nearly $1.8 billion from a 2021 stock repurchase transaction. In June 2026, Zhao was named as a defendant in proceedings brought in the High Court in London by UK investors alleging Binance unlawfully offered cryptocurrency derivatives.

Presidential pardon and aftermath

In October 2025, President Donald Trump granted Zhao a full presidential pardon. Reporting by The Wall Street Journal in March and August 2025 uncovered that Binance was in talks with the Trump family about business dealings and was administering a trading platform for Trump's World Liberty Financial. The New York Times reported that month that Zhao was campaigning for a pardon, and Binance had spent $800,000 on lobbying for clemency. 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 by the Biden Administration in what she described as their war on cryptocurrency, without allegations of fraud or identifiable victims, and that prosecutors sought a three-year sentence outside guidelines. Zhao expressed deep gratitude for the pardon on social media. In a subsequent 60 Minutes interview on October 31, 2025, Trump claimed he had no idea who Zhao was but characterized the case as a Biden witch hunt. The pardon was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans as an act of brazen corruption, while Zhao's lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, described the criticism as an unlawful attempt to usurp the pardon power of the U.S. president.

Post-Binance activities and memoir

Following his release from prison and subsequent pardon, Zhao remained active in the global digital asset sphere and pursued personal projects. 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. His major post-incarceration project was writing his memoir, Freedom of Money: A Memoir of Protecting Users, Resilience, and the Founding of Binance, which was largely written during his four-month prison term in 2024. The 364-page book, self-published by the Freedom of Money Foundation on April 8, 2026, details his childhood in rural China, his family's immigration to Canada, the founding of Binance in 2017, its rapid expansion, the collapse of competitors like FTX, and his perspective on the 2023 legal settlement. Zhao pledged to donate 100% of the book's author royalties to Giggle Academy, his non-profit educational initiative aimed at expanding access to free learning opportunities for children worldwide. The book was released globally in both English and Chinese print and digital editions.

Personal life, wealth and philanthropy

Zhao holds citizenship in both Canada, which he acquired around 1992 after immigrating, and the United Arab Emirates, where he resides in Abu Dhabi. He met his wife Yang Weiqing in 1999 and they married in 2003, having two children before divorcing around 2005 when their eldest daughter was two. Since 2014, Zhao has been in a life partner relationship with his business partner and Binance co-founder, Yi He, with whom he has three children. In terms of his assets, Zhao has stated in an April 2021 Bloomberg Markets interview that nearly 100% of his liquid net worth was in the form of cryptocurrency. Politically, he has described himself in a 2021 statement in Singapore as neither a complete libertarian nor an anarchist, stating he does not believe human civilization is advanced enough to live in a world with no rules. Philanthropically, Zhao has expressed an intention to donate between 90% and 99% of his wealth, following examples set by figures like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and plans to donate most of his wealth as many other entrepreneurs have done.

Zhao's wealth, derived primarily from his ownership stake in Binance, has seen dramatic fluctuations tied to cryptocurrency markets. Forbes first placed him on the cryptocurrency rich list in February 2018, estimating his net worth between $1.1 and $2 billion and ranking him third. His fortune grew exponentially as Binance solidified its market dominance. As of April 2026, Forbes estimates Zhao's net worth at $111.1 billion, a figure that makes him the wealthiest Canadian and places him 17th on the global list of billionaires. This positioning highlights the significant impact of the cryptocurrency industry on modern wealth creation and Zhao's status as a Canadian-based entrepreneur who achieved exceptional financial success through digital asset innovation.

Advisory roles and ongoing influence

Even after stepping down from Binance's day-to-day operations, Zhao continued to exert influence through formal advisory positions with national governments seeking guidance on digital asset policy. His appointment by Pakistan in April 2024 signalled a recognition of his expertise by a national finance ministry. The subsequent appointment by Kyrgyzstan in May 2025 further established his role as a consultant to governments working on the integration of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology into their economic frameworks. These roles indicate that despite his legal history in the United States, Zhao's knowledge of exchange operations and global crypto markets remained in demand. His activities during this period reflect a strategic pivot from corporate leadership to advisory and philanthropic work, focusing on policy development and education through his memoir and the Giggle Academy initiative, which aims to provide free learning for children.

Questions about Changpeng Zhao

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

Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange co-founded by Zhao in July 2017 that rapidly grew to become the world's largest by trading volume. Zhao served as its CEO until November 2023, when he resigned as part of a guilty plea with U.S. authorities. He was replaced as CEO by Richard Teng. Zhao remains a major shareholder but is no longer involved in the company's day-to-day management, focusing instead on advisory roles, his memoir, and philanthropy.

What is Changpeng Zhao's connection to Canada?

Changpeng Zhao is a Canadian citizen and businessman. He emigrated to Canada with his family in late 1989 when he was 12 years old, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. During his teenage years, he supported his family by working service jobs at a McDonald's restaurant and a gas station. He later attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he majored in computer science. According to Forbes, Zhao is the richest Canadian, and he acquired his citizenship around 1992, approximately 30 years after his family's immigration.

Why was Changpeng Zhao sent to prison?

Changpeng Zhao was sent to prison after pleading guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. He admitted to prioritizing Binance's growth over compliance with anti-money laundering requirements set by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. In April 2024, a federal court in Seattle sentenced him to four months in prison for enabling money laundering at his cryptocurrency exchange. He served his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc I, and was released from custody on September 27, 2024, after completing his term.

What is Changpeng Zhao's book 'Freedom of Money' about?

Changpeng Zhao's book 'Freedom of Money' is a 364 page memoir self published on April 8, 2026. It details his childhood in rural China, his family's immigration to Canada, and his founding of Binance, which became the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The book, written largely during his four month prison term in 2024, also covers Binance's legal settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the collapse of competitors like FTX. Zhao has pledged to donate 100% of the author royalties from the book to his educational non profit, Giggle Academy.

What is Changpeng Zhao's educational background in Canada?

Changpeng Zhao attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he majored in computer science. He emigrated to Canada with his family in 1989 when he was 12 years old, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia. During his teenage years in Canada, he supported his family by working service jobs, including at a McDonald's and a gas station. His higher education at McGill provided the technical foundation for his later career in developing trading software and founding Binance.

How did Changpeng Zhao first get involved with Bitcoin?

Changpeng Zhao first heard about Bitcoin in 2013 during a poker game with Bobby Lee, who later founded BTCC. Lee advised Zhao to invest 10 percent of his money into Bitcoin. Instead, Zhao decided to 'go all in' by selling his apartment in Shanghai and investing all of his wealth into Bitcoin, which dismayed his family. This key decision marked his deep entry into the cryptocurrency space, leading him to join projects like Blockchain.info and eventually co-found Binance in 2017.

Sources and further reading

• Changpeng Zhao (Wikipedia)
• Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (bbc.com)

Checked by the Yadude Books desk. Last updated 2026-10-19.