Early cryptocurrency believers and investors are now rivaling tech giants in net worth, Changepeng Zhao, the CEO and Founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform now worth an estimated $96 billion excluding his private cryptocurrency holdings, according to a Bloomberg report released on Sunday.
The world’s most prominent cryptocurrency personality, Zhao is closing in on Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, three of the world’s leading tech billionaires. At $96 billion, Zhao is richer than Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person and could worth more if private cryptocurrency holdings are factored in.
“Zhao’s fortune could be significantly larger, as the wealth estimate doesn’t take into account his personal crypto holdings, which include Bitcoin and his firm’s own token. The so-called Binance Coin surged roughly 1,300% last year,” the report noted.
Zhao, 44, founded Binance in China before it was banned amid a series of regulatory probes. Presently, the U.S. Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service are investigating whether Zhao controlled Binance Holdings Ltd., is involved in money laundering and tax evasion.
In 2021, Binance realised about $20 billion in revenue, going by Bloomberg estimates of the company’s trading volume and fees. To put things in perspective, that is triple of what Wall Street experts are projecting that the newly listed Coinbase Global Inc., valued at $50 billion will generate in 2021.
“Coinbase might appear to be the 800-pound gorilla from a U.S. perspective, but Binance is significantly bigger,” said Chris Brendler analyst with DA Davidson & Co.
At a Bloomberg New Economy Forum held in Singapore, Zhao revealed some of the company’s numbers. He said Binance, at some point, has done $170 billion in transactions in 24 hours and on a slow day, does about $40 billion.
The report assumed Zhao’s stake in Binance is about 90 percent. However, Zhao declined to comment and disputed the accuracy of Bloomberg estimates.