Since 2000, the throne of the richest Chinese has changed hands frequently, and Changpeng Zhao is undoubtedly the most "watery". Now, he's hitting a new record and leading the way in terms of the amount of fines he has received.
On December 18, Changpeng Zhao and the cryptocurrency exchange "Binance" (Binance) founded by the U.S. Commodity Exchange (CFTC) fined 28500 million US dollars (about 20.4 billion yuan).
Just a month ago, Changpeng Zhao and Binance reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and the settlement amount was as high as 436.6 billion US dollars (about 31.2 billion yuan).
In just two months, Changpeng Zhao and Binance were fined more than 50 billion yuan. And this is not the end, the fate that awaits him is still unknown.
At his peak, Changpeng Zhao was worth as much as 94.1 billion US dollars (about 671.5 billion yuan), beating many tycoons to become the richest man in China. Despite the incredible moisture of cryptocurrency, no one can doubt that he has a huge amount of wealth.
From the time he chose this industry, it was already doomed to the current ending.
In all respects, Changpeng Zhao can be called young and promising.
Changpeng Zhao was born in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province in 1977, and his father was a university professor. At the age of 12, the family moved to Vancouver, Canada, and Changpeng Zhao started a new life.
After six years of high school, he was admitted to McGill University in Montreal to study computer science. In his spare time, he worked at McDonald's, volleyball courts, and gas stations to earn money.
As a child, Changpeng Zhao was in front of the Radner Clock Tower in Vancouver.
After graduating from university, Changpeng Zhao first flew to Japan and worked at the Tokyo ** Stock Exchange, becoming an engineer developing an order system.
Soon after, he moved to New York, USA, where he worked for Bloomberg, the world's largest financial information company, and participated in the development of the world's largest financial information company. He did an excellent job, was promoted three times in two years, and became the technical director of Bloomberg.
China, Canada, Japan, the United States, at a young age he already has the experience of living in four countries, his vision is as broad as mountains and seas, and his success in the workplace has also made him more ambitious.
Changpeng Zhao in his youth.
Looking at the world, it is still the hometown of China that has the greatest potential. In 2005, at the age of 28, Mr. Zhao stepped down from his executive position to found Fusion Systems in Shanghai to develop high-frequency trading systems for Chinese brokers.
With years of experience, Changpeng Zhao has run the company well, and he also bought a luxury apartment in Shanghai. But a chance encounter opens the door to a new world.
In order to dominate the sea in the new world, Changpeng Zhao gave up almost everything he had. The thing that made him fall in love at first sight was none other than Bitcoin.
In 2013, 36-year-old Changpeng Zhao was playing poker with a friend who was a venture capitalist, and he heard about Bitcoin by chance, and then became obsessed with it.
At that time, most people didn't know what Bitcoin was. But as a good engineer, he is exceptionally sensitive to things in the computer industry. After some research, Changpeng Zhao recognized the value of Bitcoin, and the company that had been open for 8 years was instantly unfragrant.
To better understand Bitcoin, he joined blockchain, a company that tracks Bitcoin transactions, as the third founding employee as the technical lead.
A year later, he joined the cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin and led the overall situation as the technical director, together with the founder Xu Xingxing and the "first sister in the currency circle" He Yi, collectively known as the "Bitcoin Tiantuan".
Xu Xingxing (first from left), He Yi (middle) and Changpeng Zhao.
At the same time, another move of his shocked friends and relatives - he actually sold his apartment in Shanghai and spent $1 million ** in bitcoin, almost using up all his savings.
It didn't take long for the fears of friends and family to become a reality. Shanghai's housing prices have doubled, but Bitcoin has been cut in half, but Changpeng Zhao was unmoved and finally reaped huge profits.
Property is already crazy, and Bitcoin is ten times crazier than real estate. At that time, the price of a bitcoin was about $600, then it rose to $6,000, then exceeded $10,000, and now it is more than $40,000.
After this battle, Changpeng Zhao went crazy. As "the first person to hold 99% of his assets in cryptocurrency", he is worshipped as an eternal god by many people in the cryptocurrency world.
More wealth breeds greater ambition. After a thorough understanding of Bitcoin, Changpeng Zhao founded the cryptocurrency exchange "Binance" in June 2017"。
Years of international experience came in handy, he directly laid out the global market, focusing on currency trading, and soon amazed the industry with a dark horse attitude, attracting millions of users in just three months.
Unexpectedly, on September 4, 2017, the central bank and other seven ministries and commissions jointly issued an announcement to stop the issuance and trading of cryptocurrencies, which industry insiders called "9."4 bans".
The peers all ushered in the catastrophe, and Changpeng Zhao picked up the notebook and started the "Wandering Earth Project".
In order to find a legal home for Binance, Changpeng Zhao flew to his first place of work - Japan. Japan welcomed it at first, but soon issued an eviction order because cryptocurrencies are not usually very risky.
After a setback in Japan, Changpeng Zhao traveled to Europe and decided to move his headquarters to crypto-friendly Malta. Unexpectedly, Malta belongs to Ye Gonghaolong, and Binance is still in an embarrassing situation with no branches to live in.
Later, Changpeng Zhao flew to the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, and Vietnam, but he was never truly accepted. He clearly senses that countries are getting tougher on cryptocurrency.
After traveling halfway around the world and hitting a wall one after another, Changpeng Zhao simply took the Buddhist route and announced that Binance did not need a headquarters, which happened to be in line with the spirit of decentralization of cryptocurrency.
"No matter what I'm sitting at, it's in Binance's office. ”
On the surface, Changpeng Zhao is embarrassed, but in fact, Binance is developing rapidly. Since "9After the 4 ban, the trading platforms of domestic cryptocurrencies have ushered in an ice age, but Binance has gone several floors.
Unlike its domestic counterparts, Binance took the international route from the beginning. Domestic users who lost their trading platforms flocked to Binance, putting Changpeng Zhao on the cusp.
In January 2018, the number of Binance users soared to 5 million, and the daily trading volume exceeded $10 billion, making it one of the world's largest exchanges.
By the beginning of 2022, "Binance" was already the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, with more than 3,000 employees working from home, 90 million registered users, and a daily trading volume of $76 billion, killing most banks in seconds.
Changpeng Zhao's wealth finally couldn't be hidden, and after the disclosure of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, people suddenly discovered that Changpeng Zhao surpassed Zhong Sui and Ma Huateng to become the new richest Chinese.
According to the 2021 Forbes list of the richest Chinese, Changpeng Zhao became the richest Chinese with a net worth of $94.1 billion.
While the $94.1 billion figure is full of moisture, there's no denying that Changpeng Zhao is the king of the cryptocurrency industry. The commission charged on a daily basis alone is astronomical.
Such an astonishing wealth is still on the edge of the law, which naturally attracts the attention of many countries.
At the end of 2022, FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the United States, unexpectedly exposed a scandal in which executives stole $8 billion of customer funds, which was called "the largest financial fraud case in American history".
For a while, the industry **, various shortcomings of cryptocurrencies surfaced, and the United States also strengthened regulation. FTX's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was convicted of seven counts related to fraud and money laundering and could face a sentence of up to 115 years.
Sam Bankman-Fried.
Cryptocurrencies are heavily regulated in their own countries, not to mention foreign ones. Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has naturally become a thorn in the side of the US Department of Justice.
At first, Changpeng Zhao had a strong attitude and chose to be tough. In March, he responded with the number "4," which means "no fud, fake news, and attacks" in cryptocurrency circles, when confronted with accusations from the U.S. Commodity Exchange Commission.
Soon, however, the situation took a turn for the worse. The U.S. Department of Justice is giving increasingly frightening charges for alleged money laundering, sending money without a license, violating sanctions, and more.
The U.S. is very good at long-arm jurisdiction, often sanctioning businesses and executives in other countries. Instead of confronting the United States in fear, it is better to take the initiative to admit mistakes and confess leniently, which should be regarded as spending money to eliminate disasters.
So there is the scene at the beginning of the article, in November this year, Changpeng Zhao and Binance reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and the settlement amount was as high as 43$6.6 billion.
It's just that what I didn't expect was that the U.S. Department of Justice was not as great as the legend said. Maybe the U.S. Department of Justice didn't expect that the money would come so easily and quickly, where to find such an obedient ATM.
Just a month later, Changpeng Zhao and Binance received another 28$500 million fine. Debts that have been on the edge of the law for many years have been chased by the U.S. Department of Justice to repay.
What's even more terrifying is that other countries may also follow the example of the United States and fine Changpeng Zhao and Binance.
The former richest man in China suddenly found that he had nowhere to escape.
Although Changpeng Zhao has been "wandering the earth" for many years, and his nationality has long been changed to Canadian, as long as he sees that face, Westerners will instinctively regard him as Chinese.
Whenever a country is in a recession, it will use alien races to divert conflicts. And those rich people from other countries are the objects of attention.
Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, in order to avoid the joint sanctions of the United States, Britain and the European Union, Russian billionaires have transferred their assets and started a global exodus.
Russia's third-richest man, Mordashov, whose net worth was once as high as $18.7 billion, shrank by $10 billion in just a few months, and his yachts and mansions in Italy are being seized.
Igor Sechin, President of Rosneft and former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and the $12 million mega yacht "True Love" was confiscated by France.
According to the report: "From the beginning of 2022 to October this year, Russia's super-rich have lost a cumulative $94 billion, and some of them have lost half of their worth." ”
In this era of populism, some countries are becoming more and more ugly, completely tearing off the pretense of a gentleman in the prosperous period, and not letting go of any opportunity to make money.
Seeing the treatment of Russian tycoons, you can understand why Changpeng Zhao chose to confess and be lenient.
Unfortunately, confession may not be lenient, and it may usher in a more severe trial.
After all, people are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong. After the pig is fattened, it is inevitable to be slaughtered. Wen Linghu is empty
Resources. 1] *Times.com |The former "richest Chinese" was heavily fined by the United States again!The cumulative fines have exceeded 50 billion, what is the situation?
2] Fortune Magazine |Interview with Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance.
3] Business Week Chinese Edition |The crime and punishment of the richest Chinese in the past.
4] The Paper |FTX Trial Results: Former crypto tycoon SBF found guilty on all seven counts.
5] Interface News |Why did Changpeng Zhao plead guilty?