Inside the Comeback of Crypto’s Most Controversial CEO, Changpeng Zhao
It’s right to say Changpeng Zhao, who goes by CZ, is the incarnation of victory. After being sentenced for four months from late April 2024 to September 2024, he was lobbying for a presidential pardon over the year and secured it on October 23rd,2025, which would give him the civil rights to resume his business operations in the country.
But what gave the power and vision for this Canadian citizen, who lived most of his life like a nomad? The one step he took during 2013 to sell his apartment to buy Bitcoin overturned his career.
His Early Career
CZ came from a humble background, and his early life taught him resilience. He worked at McDonald’s to support his family and simultaneously pursued a Computer Science degree at McGill University. During an internship at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, his performance was exemplary that the firm didn’t let him return to school. So he worked, without obtaining a degree. CZ said,
“Where I was born, there was no running water, no electricity, it was a village, and I was pumping water out of a well.”
It was during 2005, he moved to Shanghai to start his business and co-founded Fusion Systems with five other founders, which developed automated high-frequency trading platforms and systems for brokers. Between 2004 and 2005, for a year, he also worked for Bloomberg, where he developed futures trading software.
The word Bitcoin first echoed through his ears in 2013 while playing poker with Bobby Lee, former CEO of BTC China, one of the earliest Bitcoin exchanges. He advised CZ to invest 10% of his assets in BTC and encouraged him by saying if BTC’s value surged by 10X, then his wealth would double; if not, he would lose only 10% of his investment.
This insight of Lee intrigued CZ to learn more about Bitcoin, and he started his research with the Bitcoin whitepaper, attended crypto events, and deeply immersed himself in understanding the underlying technology. In one of the conferences, he got a chance to meet Charlie Lee, Vitalik Buterin, and Matthew Roszak. Describing his pre-Binance life, he wrote.
“I was a serial entrepreneur looking to build a successful startup before I understood my passion”.
The Foundation For Binance And Its Launch
The founding story of Binance is a year-long journey of CZ. He got his vision to pursue his career with cryptocurrency and sold his Shanghai apartment in late 2013 and bought Bitcoin worth $65,000 then. After his purchase of Bitcoin, its price significantly dropped from nearly $600 to $200. But this did not deter CZ; instead, he remained committed to the crypto world.
From 2013, he took several leading roles in the crypto industry. He served as a member of Blockchain.info, after which he worked as the CTO at OKcoin. Through his career, he gained experience, knowledge, and wisdom to lay the foundation of Binance.
He established Binance in 2017, for which he raised over $1.7 billion in the ICO. In just 180 days, it became the world’s largest centralized exchange, operating in 350+ countries, offering spot trading, margin & futures trading, and staking. The peer-to-peer transaction feature has truly enabled the trader to transact with zero fees. The platform has achieved remarkable success by onboarding over 270M+ users, and it’s counting.
Related: Trump Denies Ties to Binance’s CZ, Calls Case a ‘Witch-Hunt’
Infamous Chapters of Binace
“Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit. Its willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform,” said the former Secretary of the Treasury Janet L.Yellen.
Binance came under scrutiny for almost 2 years. The US authorities were against the platform for its non-compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act. It was alleged that Binance facilitated fund transfers to Hamas terrorists. The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), under the former chair, Gary Gensler, then charged Binance with 13 charges on June 5, 2023.
In response to the SEC lawsuit, initially, Zhao denied, but later in November 2023, he admitted his guilt of the charges. As a part of the agreement with the US official agencies, he paid $50 million, and Binance paid $4.3 billion, and CZ stepped down as the CEO of Binance. Apart from the fine, he was also sentenced to four months.
So far, this is the biggest compliance fine a cryptocurrency exchange has paid. After CZ, Richard Tend, who has been with Binance since 2021, became the CEO in November 2023.
“With Richard and the entire team, I’m confident that the best days for Binance and the crypto industry lay ahead”, said Zhao.
Later Plans of Changpeng Zhao After Binance
After Changpeng Zhao’s return from prison, he launched the Giggle Academy, a non-profit, gamified education platform for grades 1-12. He believed in the transformative power of education, stating that building a high-quality, free education platform was the most impactful endeavour he could pursue in the next chapter of his life.
Related: From Humble Beginnings to Crypto Trailblazer: CZ’s Story
The Story So Far
CZ remained attached to the blockchain space by supporting and advising Binance. He primarily focused on rebuilding his public image and pursuing philanthropic and educational endeavours.
He also received his pardon from President Donald Trump. With all his contributions and resurgence, he still remains to inspire everyone in the crypto space.
