You may be surprised to learn that a Canadian citizen made the world’s largest crypto fortune with a friendly poker game. But the fact is that this Canadian entrepreneur began his crypto journey in Shanghai. He met Ethereum co-founder Mihai Alisie and co-founder Chris Larsen at a game in Shanghai, and since then, Zhao’s crypto fortune has soared. Zhao now hosts the Royals of the United Arab Emirates and Chinese royalty at his poker club.
Zhao achieved the world’s biggest crypto fortune with a single poker game
Changpeng Zhao, better known by his nickname CZ, is one of the world’s richest people in crypto. He is the CEO of Binance and one of the fastest people to become a billionaire. With the help of smart investments, Zhao rose to the top and left behind companies with decades of experience. What can you learn from Zhao’s success? Continue reading to learn about his life, his passion, and his business model.
Born in China, Zhao was raised in Canada. His father had been a university professor during the Cultural Revolution, so the family immigrated to Canada when CZ was 12 years old. After graduating from university, Zhao worked for several years in the finance industry, mainly in financial services. In 2013, Zhao met Bobby Lee and learned about bitcoins. The two bonded over their mutual love of poker and Zhao decided to make a major investment in bitcoin. His investment returned with interest.
His road to crypto riches began in Shanghai in 2013
One of the most influential people in the crypto world is Changpeng Zhao. He is a Canadian citizen who grew up in China. His father was a university professor during the Cultural Revolution. He moved with his family to Vancouver and studied computer science before pursuing a career in finance. His crypto journey began in Shanghai in 2013, when he met Bobby Lee and decided to invest his savings in Bitcoin. Soon after, Zhao started his own exchange named Binance, which has become one of the world’s leading destinations for traders of bitcoin and altcoins.
Zhao grew up playing poker and he became interested in cryptocurrency. He eventually sold his apartment and made a fortune buying bitcoin. After a year of learning the crypto world, he founded Binance, which is the Chinese equivalent of the cryptocurrency ethereum. Binance quickly became a global crypto powerhouse, and Zhao got a company logo tattooed on his arm. Today, Zhao has become the face of Binance, and is one of the biggest names in the crypto industry.
Mihai Alisie is an Ethereum co-founder
The Ethereum project was founded by a group of Romanians. The team huddled together in Zug, Switzerland, an old commodities hedge fund tax haven now known as Crypto Valley, for its first meeting. During that meeting, Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum creator, told his team he was out and that Ethereum would proceed as a nonprofit. Buterin later announced that he would step down as president of Ethereum in favor of his fellow founders.
A general purpose blockchain, Ethereum is used to run decentralized applications. Users can write code on the Ethereum network to make a transaction. The code becomes part of the contract, which is a virtual object. Ethereum uses smart contracts to automate certain tasks. These tasks can be performed instantly. With Ethereum, users can perform these tasks without any need for human intervention. But how do they create a contract?
He hosts the royals of the United Arab Emirates
The world’s richest man is not a woman, but a Chinese cryptocurrency pioneer named Changpeng Zhao. A former MC Donald’s burger flipper, Zhao is now the world’s richest man, and he is the unofficial VIP of the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi royal family wants to see Zhao bring his Binance exchange to the UAE.
Founded in 2013, Binance has been a global phenomenon, with billions traded on a single day. Even on a slow day, the company handles more than US$40 billion. Just two years ago, this number was much lower. And Zhao, who has frequently been in the UAE, has even bought a house there. He hosts lavish dinner parties on the Palm Jumeirah island and has been spotted with UAE royalty at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He has also said that his move to the UAE was a gesture of support for a progressive region.