The native form of this personal name is Zhao Changpeng. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Changpeng Zhao
Zhao speaking at the 2022 NFT Summit
Born 1977 (age 47–48)
Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China[1]
Nationality Canadian, UAE
Other names CZ
Alma mater McGill University (BSc.)
Occupations
Businessmaninvestorsoftware engineer
Known for Co-founder and former CEO of Binance
Spouse Yang Weiqing (m. 2003)
Partner He Yi (2014–)
Children 5
Changpeng Zhao
Traditional Chinese 趙長鵬
Simplified Chinese 赵长鹏
Transcriptions
Changpeng Zhao (Chinese: 赵长鹏; pinyin: Zhào Chángpéng), commonly known as CZ, is a Chinese-born Canadian businessman. Zhao is the co-founder and former CEO of Binance.[2] He resigned as the CEO in November 2023 after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge in the United States and was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 and completed his sentence by September of the same year
According to Forbes, Zhao was ranked the 24th-richest person in the world, and second-richest Canadian overall, with a net worth estimated at $66.6 billion as of January 2025.
Early life and education
Zhao was born in Lianyungang in China's Jiangsu province.[1] In the late 1980s, when he was 12 years old, he immigrated with his family to Canada, settling down in Vancouver, British Columbia. His parents were both schoolteachers in China.[7] His father worked as a university instructor before he was branded a "pro-bourgeois intellect" and exiled to rural areas shortly after Zhao's birth.[8] During his teenage years in Canada, Zhao helped to support his family by holding down a number of service jobs, including working as a fast-food clerk at a McDonald's restaurant and a gas station.[9][10]
Zhao attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he majored in computer
