🍔Before he built the world’s largest crypto exchange, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was flipping burgers at McDonald’s and working night shifts at a gas station in Vancouver. Born in Jiangsu, China, CZ moved to Canada with his family as a teenager, where he quickly learned the value of hard work and resilience.
Fast-forward a couple of decades, and CZ is a household name in crypto. But unlike many tech billionaires, his rise didn’t follow the traditional startup path. No VC funding rounds, no Silicon Valley buzz. Just deep conviction, sharp execution, and relentless building.
🎯 The $1M Bet on Bitcoin
In 2013, during a casual poker game, CZ heard about Bitcoin for the first time. The conversation sparked his curiosity, and he spent the next few days diving into the Bitcoin whitepaper and reading Satoshi’s forum posts.
A year later, in 2014, CZ made a decision that most people would consider insane: he sold his Shanghai apartment, valued at around $1 million, and used almost all of it to buy Bitcoin. At the time, BTC was trading around $600. His family thought he’d lost his mind. Even CZ himself admitted that it felt like a wild risk.
But that one decision anchored everything that followed.
🏗️ Laying the Foundation: OKCoin and BijieTech
After buying into Bitcoin, CZ didn’t just HODL. He went all in on building the infrastructure that would support crypto’s future. He joined OKCoin as CTO, where he helped develop their matching engine and backend architecture. This experience gave him first-hand insight into what worked (and what didn’t) in centralized exchanges.
In 2015, CZ left OKCoin to start BijieTech, a company that built exchange tech solutions for other platforms. BijieTech quietly powered over 30 exchanges in Asia, giving CZ a strong grasp of scalability, latency, and user behavior in trading environments.
During these years, he watched the crypto space evolve rapidly. But he also saw the same patterns repeat: poor UX, slow engines, high fees, opaque processes.
He realized there was room to build something better. Much better.
🚀 Launching Binance in 2017
With a clear vision and technical foundation, CZ launched Binance in July 2017. The timing was electric: the ICO boom was in full swing, Ethereum had unleashed a flood of new tokens, and centralized exchanges were overwhelmed.
Binance raised $15 million through its own token sale, launching
$BNB as a utility token to pay for trading fees on the platform. Within just 165 days, Binance became the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume.
This wasn’t just viral growth. It was engineered.
Binance offered:
A lightning-fast matching engine capable of handling 1.4 million orders per second.Lower fees (0.1%) than most competitors.A broad token selection from day one.A global, multilingual interface that welcomed users from every region.Users flocked to it. Word-of-mouth did the rest.
🔁 Keep Building: The Binance Philosophy
CZ’s mantra, "Keep building," isn’t a catchphrase. It’s how Binance scaled during the most chaotic years in crypto.
When governments issued bans, Binance moved fast, relocating operations and launching decentralized infrastructure. When competitors were hacked or collapsed, Binance tightened security and grew its SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users). When the 2018 bear market hit, Binance kept shipping new features: staking, Launchpad, Earn, Futures.
While others slowed down, Binance accelerated.
CZ also resisted the usual Web2 temptations. No flashy PR. No multi-million dollar ads. Just continuous delivery and community-first policies.
His focus: build tools that reduce friction, increase speed, and give people more control over their assets.
⚙️ The Role of
$BNB in the Ecosystem
At the heart of Binance’s growth was its native token, BNB.
Originally launched on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token, BNB evolved into the backbone of the Binance ecosystem. Today, it powers:
Fee Discounts: Users save up to 25% on trading fees by paying with BNB.Launchpad Participation: BNB is the primary token used for early access to new projects.BNB Smart Chain (BSC): As gas for transactions on one of the most active blockchains in the world.Token Burns: Binance permanently removes a portion of BNB from circulation each quarter, reducing supply and increasing scarcity.Binance Card, Pay, and Earn: Integrated into payments, savings, and spending features across the Binance ecosystem.
Few exchange tokens have achieved this level of real-world functionality.
🌐 Global Expansion & Regulatory Pressure
As Binance grew, so did scrutiny.
Between 2019 and 2023, regulators in the U.S., EU, UK, and Asia issued fines, warnings, and lawsuits. Binance had to adapt — fast.
Instead of retreating, CZ hired compliance experts, established local entities, and applied for licenses. He stepped down as CEO in 2023, handing the role to Richard Teng, signaling a shift from startup agility to institutional structure.
But even during turbulence, Binance never stopped launching products. It opened P2P markets, NFT platforms, and support for 600+ assets across Spot, Futures, and Margin.
📈 Lessons Traders Can Learn From CZ
Conviction Beats Timing CZ didn’t time the market. He entered at $600 per BTC and watched it fall below $200. But he held, built, and positioned for the next wave.Tools Matter More Than Talk Binance’s rise wasn’t due to hype. It was fast, functional, and global from day one. That’s what users valued.Utility Wins in the Long Run BNB isn’t a meme or narrative token. It’s embedded into the financial mechanics of a $60B+/day exchange.Ignore Noise, Focus on Product Whether it’s FUD, lawsuits, or cycles, Binance kept releasing updates. In crypto, consistency wins.Decentralize Yourself From early on, CZ avoided being personally tied to any one country or platform. Binance’s operational resilience is proof.
🧩 Final Thought
CZ’s journey wasn’t linear. It was built on risk, iteration, and ruthless focus. He didn’t follow market cycles — he built the platforms others would use during them.
BNB’s success wasn’t a coincidence. It grew because it solved real problems for real users in a rapidly evolving industry.
For traders, investors, or builders: there’s no single blueprint in crypto. But CZ’s story reminds us that infrastructure, conviction, and simplicity often outperform noise.
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