The cryptocurrency market is considered one that has the prospect of turning an average income earner into an overnight millionaire.
Interestingly, this has become the story of former McDonald’s burger-flipper and software developer Changpeng Zhao (CZ), who went on to become the founder and CEO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
While several average income earners attained millionaire status via crypto, CZ’s fortune has grown meteorically into billions of dollars.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index report, the CEO and founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is ranked as one of the world’s richest people, with a net worth of $96 billion.
This is the first time Bloomberg is estimating CZ’s fortune, which surpasses Asia’s richest person and rivals that of tech titan Mark Zuckerberg, who is currently worth $117.5 billion.
CZ Could Be Worth More
CZ’s net worth estimation was centered mainly on Binance’s success, especially on trading fees and volumes since the exchange was launched in 2017.
The report suggests that CZ’s fortune could be larger than what was estimated, as the estimation did not take into account his personal cryptocurrency holdings, which consist mainly of bitcoin (BTC) and Binance native cryptocurrency binance coin (BNB).
Recall that both cryptocurrencies have soared tremendously in the past year, with BTC surging above 400% while BNB grew nearly 1,300% within this time.
Efforts to get Zhao’s comment on the report failed. However, in November when Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker asked CZ’s about how much wealth he has, he does not “care about wealth, money, and rankings.”
Zhao Unconcerned about Financial Rankings
Reacting to the story, Binance, in a statement, dismissed Bloomberg’s estimation of CZ’s net worth on the grounds of increased volatility in the cryptocurrency space, saying:
“Crypto is still in its growth stage. It is susceptible to higher levels of volatility. Any number you hear one day will be different from the number you hear the next day.”
Regardless of how much wealth CZ is worth, the cryptocurrency billionaire said in November that he intends to give away up to 99% of his wealth since he is financially free on a personal level and does not need a lot of money.
Binance Successes Since Inception
Launched in 2017, Binance has become home to several cryptocurrency traders as they flock to the exchange to enjoy its low trading fees and enticing features.
Binance facilitates as much trading as the next four world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges combined, according to data from Coingecko. Binance recently facilitated $170 billion of transactions within 24 hours.
