Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao | |
|---|---|
Zhao in 2022 | |
| Born | 1977 (age 47–48) Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China |
| Nationality | Canadian, UAE |
| Other names | CZ |
| Alma mater | McGill University (BSc.) |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Co-founder and former CEO of Binance |
| Spouse |
Yang Weiqing (m. 2003–2005) |
| Partner | He Yi (2014–) |
| Children | 5 |
| Changpeng Zhao | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 趙長鵬 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 赵长鹏 | ||||||
| |||||||
Changpeng Zhao (Chinese: 赵长鹏; pinyin: Zhào Chángpéng), commonly known as CZ, is a Chinese-born Canadian businessman. Zhao is the co-founder and former CEO of Binance. He resigned as the CEO in November 2023 after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge in the United States and was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 and completed his sentence by September of the same year.
According to Forbes, Zhao was ranked the 24th-richest person in the world, and second-richest Canadian overall, with a net worth estimated at $64.8 billion as of May 2025.
On April 7, 2025, he was appointed by Pakistan Ministry of finance as a strategic advisor to Pakistan crypto council. He will guide look-over and promote Crypto and blockchain technology in the country
On May 3, 2025, he was appointed as an advisor to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Japarov, on the development of digital assets.