Who Is Changpeng Zhao and What Role Does He Play in the Crypto World?

Who Is Changpeng Zhao?

Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, is the founder and former CEO of the crypto exchange Binance. He launched Binance in 2017 and, as its owner and executive, played a defining role in the crypto company for a long time.

Zhao stepped down as CEO on November 21, 2023. That happened after he pleaded guilty in the United States to intentionally causing Binance to fail to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. Richard Teng then took over as CEO.

Important to know: CZ is not Binance's current CEO. His name is still strongly tied to the platform, though, because Binance grew massively in the crypto market under his leadership in a short time.

Key Takeaways

• Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, is the founder and former CEO of Binance.
• He founded Binance in 2017 and led its main strategic decisions for a long time.
• By 2018, Binance had already grown into the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume.
• Zhao stepped down as CEO in November 2023 after pleading guilty in the United States.
• He is currently involved with YZi Labs and is the founder of Giggle Academy.

What Is Changpeng Zhao's Background?

Changpeng Zhao was born in 1977 in Jiangsu, China, and moved to Canada with his family in the late 1980s. There, he studied computer science at McGill University in Montréal.

That technical background later came in handy in crypto. Starting in 2001, Zhao worked in New York on software for futures trading. Futures are contracts that let traders speculate on a future price. So this is software that has to process orders quickly and reliably.

In 2005, he moved to Shanghai and founded Fusion Systems. That company built software for high-frequency trading, which is trading where computers can place and execute lots of orders in a very short time.

In 2013, Zhao became interested in bitcoin. After that, he worked at Blockchain.info for about a year. Four years later, in 2017, he started Binance. His experience with trading software and his early involvement in crypto formed a logical foundation for building a fast-moving crypto exchange.

What Role Did Changpeng Zhao Play at Binance?

Zhao was co-founder and CEO of Binance and led the company's strategic decisions. Simply put: for a long time, he was the person setting the direction for a platform where people could buy, sell, and trade crypto.

Binance didn't just offer regular spot trading. The platform also offered futures, derivatives, and margin trading. With margin trading, you borrow extra money or crypto to open a larger position. That can increase profits, but losses just as quickly.

His role at Binance also had a legal side. In a civil settlement, the U.S. CFTC found that Zhao and Binance deliberately avoided U.S. rules when offering derivatives trading. Zhao received a civil penalty of $150 million and a permanent ban on certain forms of knowingly evading obligations under the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act.

Separately, in November 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to intentionally causing Binance to fail to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. As part of that U.S. resolution, he stepped down as CEO. Binance also had to appoint an independent compliance monitor. That is someone who checks over an agreed period whether a company is actually improving its rules and controls.

How Did Binance's Influence Grow Under Changpeng Zhao?

Binance quickly became influential because the platform grew fast shortly after launching in July 2017 and offered many different trading options. By March 2018, Binance was already the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume.

Trading volume is simply the total value of all buys and sells on a platform over a certain period. High volume doesn't automatically mean a platform is the best or safest, but it does show that a lot of trading is happening.

From the start, Binance tied the platform to BNB. BNB started as a token that gave users discounts on trading fees, among other things. A token is a digital unit within a crypto ecosystem. Later, BNB gained more functions within the broader Binance and BNB Chain ecosystem.

The combination of fast growth and a wide range of offerings made Binance a central platform in the crypto market under Zhao. Users could trade different kinds of crypto there, while BNB became part of the larger ecosystem around Binance.

What Legal and Regulatory Developments Around Changpeng Zhao Matter?

The most important development is that Zhao pleaded guilty on November 21, 2023, to intentionally causing Binance to fail to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, in violation of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. On April 30, 2024, he was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $50 million. He was released on September 27, 2024, after serving his sentence.

That personal criminal case should be seen separately from Binance's own cases and payments. On the same day, Binance also pleaded guilty to, among other things, conspiracy related to the Bank Secrecy Act, failing to register as a money transmitting business, and violations of U.S. sanctions rules. The total U.S. resolution with Binance came to $4.3 billion and also included an independent monitor.

There was also the civil CFTC case. In that case, Zhao received the previously mentioned $150 million fine. Under that settlement, Binance had to pay $1.35 million and another $1.35 billion in civil penalties.

OFAC also settled with Binance in November 2023 for $968,618,825 over apparent violations of U.S. sanctions programs. That settlement was with Binance, not personally with Zhao.

The SEC also filed a civil case against Binance entities and Zhao in June 2023. On May 29, 2025, the SEC and the defendants jointly filed a request to end the case permanently. The SEC described that decision as a policy decision. That does not mean all the original allegations were proven on the merits, but it also does not mean Zhao was cleared on the merits.

On October 21, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump granted Zhao a presidential pardon for his federal conviction related to the anti-money laundering program. A presidential pardon does not erase a conviction and also does not mean a finding of innocence. The pardon also does not change the earlier civil settlements or Binance's cases and fines as a company.

What Is Changpeng Zhao Doing Now?

Changpeng Zhao is involved with YZi Labs and Giggle Academy, but he has not returned as CEO or day-to-day executive of Binance.

YZi Labs is the continuation of the former Binance Labs and operates as an independent investment vehicle. It invests in things like Web3, AI, and biotech. Web3 is a broad term for applications that use blockchain, tokens, and more direct digital ownership. So at YZi Labs, the focus is on investments and projects outside Binance's daily operations.

Zhao is also the founder of Giggle Academy. This is a free online education platform for children that uses interactive and playful learning methods.

His exact relationship with Binance beyond his background as founder is not operationally defined. What is clear is that he has not returned to the exchange's day-to-day leadership.

Why Is Changpeng Zhao Important to the Crypto Industry?

Changpeng Zhao is important to the crypto industry because he built Binance from 2017 into a platform with a major role in the crypto market. By March 2018, Binance was already the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume. That gave Binance an important position in how users around the world could buy and trade crypto.

BNB also plays a part in this. It started as a token for things like discounts on trading fees, but later gained more functions in the broader Binance and BNB Chain ecosystem. As a result, Binance became not just a place to trade crypto, but part of a larger ecosystem around tokens and blockchain technology.

At the same time, Zhao's case shows that rapid growth in crypto is not separate from regulation. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Binance resolution was the department's largest corporate guilty plea that also involved a CEO pleading guilty. For other crypto exchanges and crypto companies, the case highlights that rules around money laundering, sanctions, and customer checks can have major legal and financial consequences.

The CFTC case also shows that U.S. regulators can go after foreign platforms and executives when they serve U.S. customers or avoid U.S. market rules.

Zhao also remains active through YZi Labs and Giggle Academy. So even without a day-to-day Binance role, he remains a well-known name in crypto and related technology.

Conclusion

Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, became one of the best-known names in crypto by founding Binance in 2017 and building it into one of the most important trading platforms in the crypto market. His technical background and experience with trading software played an important role in that.

At the same time, his career shows how serious the consequences can be when an international crypto company does not comply with rules around anti-money laundering, sanctions, and oversight. Zhao is no longer Binance's CEO, but he remains active through YZi Labs and Giggle Academy in Web3, AI, education, and other technology areas.