January 12, 2022
A Canadian-Chinese crypto czar, who owns 90 percent of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, is now the richest person in Asia with an estimated net worth of US$100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The daily index ranks the world’s 500 richest people, a list which ranked the 44-year-old Canadian founder Zhangping Chao 11th, according to the publication.
Bloomberg assumes Zhao holds a 90% stake in Binance and did not count his crypto holdings owing to market volatility.
Binance is currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, accounting for over 16% of crypto transactions over the past 24 hours, according to Coingecko, which aggregates data from 550 exchanges globally.
Banished from China, Binance is facing regulatory scrutiny in a number of countries. Last month, it said it had withdrawn its application for a crypto exchange in Singapore.
Zhao, known as CZ, has since moved to the United Arab Emirates. According to Bloomberg, he “has scooped up an apartment in Dubai and hosted dinners near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and on the city’s Palm Jumeirah island — making him the most prominent personality in the nation’s booming crypto scene.”
