What do Jack Ma of Alibaba and Changpeng Zhao of Binance have in common? Yes, you’re right. Both have humble beginnings and are successful in their respective industries. A lot of people are probably familiar with Jack Ma’s story since it was well-publicized. So now let’s hear the story of Changpeng Zhao or better known as CZ in the crypto industry.
CZ is the founder and CEO of Binance, a major crypto exchange founded in China but later moved to Malta. His humble story was narrated in a recent blog on their website. CZ was born in Jiangsu, China in 1977. His family was forced to migrate to Canada in the late 1980s after his father was labeled a “pro-bourgeois intellect”.
As an immigrant, things were never easy for young CZ. As a teenager, he worked at McDonald’s to help cover his family expenses. He even worked overnight shifts at a gasoline station to further augment his family’s income.
He studied computer science at Montreal’s McGill University. Afterwhich, he built a system for matching trade orders while working for the Tokyo Stock Exchange. And later on developed software for futures trading at Bloomberg’s Tradebook.
His first dip with Bitcoin happened in 2013 during a poker game with a bitcoin capitalist. From then on, he started his venture into prominent crypto projects. He sold his apartment to buy Bitcoin and even after the price of cryptocurrency plunged from $600 to $200, he never gave up and endured.
The Launching of Binance
After working for less than a year with OKCoin as chief technology officer, CZ left the company in 2017 to start his own company, Binance. Shortly after that, he held an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) where he earned $15M. But as they say, life is not always a box of chocolates. CZ and Binance have had their own fair share of struggles. There was a time when BNB, its own cryptocurrency, dropped below its ICO price. To cope with the ongoing crisis, Binance was transformed into a decentralized operation. CZ initiated the development of Binance into an exchange that offers high volumes, low fees, and distinct advantages to users.
Finally, in April 2018, Binance became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of the trading volume. From then on, Binance remained on the number 1 spot.
Binance has a total market cap of $508,261,572,234 according to recent data in Coinmarketcap.
Now, who could ever think that a McDonald’s service crew will one day become a multi-billion crypto exchange owner? In February 2018, Forbes Magazine placed him third on their list of “The Richest People In Cryptocurrency”. Also, according to Hurun Global Rich List., CZ has now a net worth of $2.6 billion. What an inspiring story, don’t you agree? It’s not every day that we hear stories like this. But the story of Binance and CZ is the best example that with the right perspective and attitude, one can become successful. Resilience, being goal-oriented, association with the right people and wit, can lead us to success just like CZ.
Despite controversies involving Binance, the exchange remained strong and unbeatable. CZ and his Binance just like Bitcoin continue to outperform his rival major exchanges.
