KIYO THAPA

Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was born in 1977 in Jiangsu China, into a modest academic family, his father was a university professor. In 1989 his family moved to Vancouver, Canada, looking for better opportunities.
From a young age life wasn’t easy. At just 14, CZ started working at McDonald’s flipping burgers and took other small jobs to support his family while growing up in Canada.
He later studied Computer Science at McGill University, where his interest in coding and systems started to grow.
After university, CZ entered the world of finance technology, he moved to Tokyo and worked on building high frequency trading systems for the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Later he worked in Shanghai, developing trading infrastructure. Over time he became known for building extremely fast and efficient trading software.
In 2013, everything changed when he discovered Bitcoin. He spent months deeply studying the whitepaper and the ecosystem. The more he learned, the more convinced he became that crypto was the future.
He made a bold decision selling his apartment in Shanghai and putting most of his money into $BTC when it was around $400–$600.
Before launching his own exchange, CZ worked at Blockchain.info as CTO and later joined OKCoin, also as CTO.
Then in 2017, he launched Binance after raising around $15 million through the ($BNB )BNB ICO. The growth was unbelievable. Within months, Binance became the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Over time, Binance expanded into many areas like BNB Chain, Binance Labs, and global crypto infrastructure, becoming one of the biggest names in the industry.
But success also brought pressure. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Binance over AML violations, leading to a $4.3 billion settlement. CZ personally paid a $50 million fine, pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations, and stepped down as CEO.
In 2024, he served a 4 month sentence in a U.S. federal prison.
Later in 2025, he received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. CZ confirmed he would not return as Binance CEO.
Instead, he shifted focus to education and launched Giggle Academy, a free online learning platform. By March 2026, it had already reached over 184,000 children. $GIGGLE
Today, CZ is no longer running Binance, but he still remains one of the most influential and controversial figures in the history of crypto.

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