According to recent estimations from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has joined the ranks of the world’s top billionaires, with a net worth of at least $96.5 billion.
Zhao’s estimated worth is now just behind Oracle founder Larry Ellison and barely ahead of Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani, whose fortune has risen dramatically in the last two years.
In the fast-moving world of digital currencies, the rise of the Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur is typical of the rapid production of riches.
Other crypto pioneers, including Vitalik Buterin, the developer of Ethereum, and Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase, both became billionaires last year as the value of virtual coins rose.
According to CNN, Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, another cryptocurrency exchange sponsored by Binance, alluded to a “exceptional amount of wealth creation” in the market over the last few years.
“CZ aims to give away the majority of his fortune, even 99 percent of his wealth, much like previous entrepreneurs and founders,” a Binance representative told CNN Business.
According to the report, Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and has since grown it into one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges.
