Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was born on February 5, 1977, in the Jiangsu province of China. His parents, Shengkai and his mother, were both educators back in China. His father received a scholarship to study at the University of British Columbia for his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees, therefore, the family migrated from China to Vancouver, Canada. CZ’s global perspective, developed through growing up in a diverse cultural environment, influenced his contributions to the crypto industry.
Early Childhood
Throughout the years, CZ’s father spent $7,000 on an IBM-compatible 286 computer. His father used it for research and taught CZ how to program. Zhao’s parents presumably taught him indispensable coding skills, which he later used to build Binance’s technology, as he is a genius coder
“My father,” Zhao says, “is a mentor on the technical side.”
University Studies- 1995
Upon completing high school in 1995, Zhao embarked on a 3,000-mile journey to attend McGill University. However, his time at McGill didn’t see him stand out academically or socially.
Nevertheless, he made a significant shift in his academic focus, transitioning from a biology major to computer science. He explained this change by stating, “In high school, biology dealt with humans. In university, it was back to animals. I didn’t find interest in that.” Late nights often found him in a campus computer lab, diligently coding on basic Apple desktop computers.
2000
Subsequently, Zhao decided to drop out of college to focus on getting wealthy, a choice that is similar to the one made by other wunderkind future billionaires like Zuckerberg. Consequently, in 2000, he parlayed a summer internship with the Tokyo Stock Exchange into a full-time gig and decided not to return to McGill.
His math and coding prowess soon landed him a job in another financial capital, New York City, where he developed futures trading software for Bloomberg Trading. But, four years later, even New York couldn’t compete with the allure of the hottest center of global business, and Zhao moved again.
2005
In 2005, he, along with four other expatriates, established Fusion Systems, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company specializing in high-frequency trading systems. Fusion Systems successfully forged partnerships with some of the globe’s largest financial institutions, including renowned names like Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.
The Beginning of Binance
One late-night poker game in 2013 changed the trajectory of his life. At the game, China’s top Bitcoin evangelists Bobby Lee and Ron Cao introduced Zhao to cryptos. Zhao went all in. He sold his Shanghai apartment and invested $1 million into Bitcoin.
As a result, the future billionaire left Fusion Systems and joined crypto startup Blockchain.info as head of technology. OKCoin hired him as their Chief Technology Officer one year later. After eight months at OKCoin, Zhao clashed with the CEO and resigned. He then used the same platforms to attack his former employer.
2016-2017
CZ and Co-founder Yi-He came together to form Binance. Accordingly, the name was derived from a combination of Binary and Finance. The funds to create the company were raised through fundraising. CZ offered a 100 million BNB to investors and managed to raise $15 Million. The funds were used for building the platform, marketing, and emergency funds.
Moreover, Binance quickly gained traction due to its user-friendly interface, a wide range of cryptocurrencies, and efficient trading infrastructure. Under CZ’s leadership, Binance achieved incredible growth, hence, turning into one of the world’s largest and most significant crypto exchanges.
