By
Marco T. Lanz
April 16th, 2024
While Bloomberg says the Binance head is worth $28.2 billion, Forbes says Zhao’s net worth as of April 27 is $10.5 billion.
According to Bloomberg, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also called CZ, is one of the “25 financial titans” that amassed their wealth through the business of lending, trading, or investing money. The report explains that computer-driven trading companies are the backers of the new generation of ultrarich, to which the Binance chief belongs.
Binance CEO CZ Makes New Finance Rich List
Bloomberg stated that CZ is worth $28.2 billion, and the CEO made the bulk of his wealth from Binance, which he founded in 2017. He worked on trading systems before he created the exchange. In Shanghai, he was introduced to the world’s first cryptocurrency by crypto entrepreneur and Bitcoin proponent Bobby Lee.
Since its inception, the crypto exchange has gathered more than 120 million users globally and has become the largest crypto company by trading volume. Binance controls more than half of the entire crypto market, and its estimated annual revenue is around $12 billion as of April 5. However, the largest exchange has been under intense regulatory scrutiny following the dramatic collapse of FTX last November. There is an ongoing legal battle between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Binance and its CEO, CZ. The Commission charged the exchange and its boss for allegedly helping clients mask their locations to evade trading restrictions. The regulator also accused the company of failing to implement effective compliance policies. However, Zhao responded that the company “does not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint”.
While Bloomberg says the Binance head is worth $28.2 billion, Forbes says Zhao’s net worth as of April 27 is $10.5 billion. Apart from CZ, who made the list of Bloomberg’s richest men in finance, the CEO of hedge fund company Citadel was also mentioned. Ken Griffin was the highest ranked, with a net worth of $35 billion. He also launched Citadel Securities, which was valued at $22 billion after a funding round in January 2022 and handles around 40% of all US retail trading volume. On the other hand, the hedge fund had $59 billion in AUM as of last year December.
Rich Men in Finance
Other crypto entrepreneurs on the list, besides Binance CZ and Griffin, are Checkout.com CEO Guillaume Pousaz and Susquehanna founder Jeff Yass, whose valuation is estimated at $33.1 billion. On the other hand, Pousaz is worth $6.4 billion after its company reportedly lost its bet on the crypto industry due to the massive investor outflows following FTX’s demise.
More personalities in the rich men club include Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Stan Druckenmiller, Chelsea football club chairman Todd Boehly and the co-founders of Two Sigma Investments, John Overdeck and David Siegel, etc.