Binance boss CZ reportedly worth $ 96 billion, rivaling Mark Zuckerberg – and that’s not counting his personal crypto holdings

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Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is believed to be the richest person in crypto.

Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Binance’s Changpeng Zhao is worth $ 96 billion, according to a new estimate from Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. That would put “CZ” among the richest in the world and not far from Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth $ 124 billion. Yet crypto fortunes are difficult to estimate and fluctuate wildly with the prices of digital assets.

Binance founder and boss Changpeng Zhao – better known as CZ – is worth $ 96 billion, according to a new estimate from Bloomberg and its Billionaire Index.

Such net worth would place CZ in the ranks of the richest people in the world. The figure of $ 96 billion is not far from the $ 124 billion estimated by Mark Zuckerberg or the 116 billion by Warren Buffett, according to the Index.

Yet Bloomberg’s estimate does not take into account CZ’s personal holdings of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and Binance’s own token. Binance Coin is the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to Coinmarketcap.

Bloomberg hit his estimate based on the scant information available on the finances of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by most estimates.

He estimated that Binance made $ 20 billion in revenue last year, using both spot and derivative trading volumes and its advertised trading fees. Bloomberg estimates that Zhao owns 90% of the company.

A net worth of $ 96 billion would make CZ by far the richest person in crypto. Satoshi, the anonymous creator of bitcoin, is estimated to be second on the list with $ 45.8 billion, thanks to his holdings in the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the 29-year-old creator of the FTX crypto exchange is second on the list with $ 15.4 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is third, with a net worth of $ 8.9 billion.

Read more: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gets by on 4 hours of sleep and multitasks on 6 screens. Insiders explain what the 29-year-old crypto billionaire really looks like – and the tough questions his business faces.

Estimating wealth in the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency market is a tricky task. Forbes, for example, has CZ’s net worth at $ 1.9 billion, well below Bloomberg’s estimate.

Fortunes can change dramatically from day to day, with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies steadily losing or gaining 10% in value in a single session. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of nearly $ 69,000 in November, but traded around $ 42,000 on Monday.

CZ’s Binance Exchange, founded in 2017, has been at the heart of the global cryptocurrency boom over the past year. Zhao said that on the right days, the exchange registers trading volumes of around $ 170 billion.

But the company is under intense regulatory pressure around the world, as watchdogs attempt to grapple with the opaque world of cryptocurrency.

For example, the Netherlands central bank said Binance was not in compliance with anti-money laundering laws, and the UK clamped down on the exchange’s ability to provide services to UK customers.

Zhao said in July last year that he welcomes regulation and that Binance is pivoting to becoming a fully regulated financial institution.

Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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