Changpeng Zhao, born on September 10, 1977, in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, to parents who were state-appointed educators impacted by the Cultural Revolution, immigrated with his family to Vancouver, Canada, in 1989 at age 12. Raised in a modest immigrant household, he worked jobs like gas station attendant and dishwasher to support his family. He attended McGill University in Montreal for computer science but dropped out without a degree to join the workforce. Early in his career, Zhao developed software for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and worked as a futures trader at Bloomberg Tradebook in London and New York. He founded the high-frequency trading firm Fusion Systems in Shanghai and served as CTO of OKCoin from 2013 to 2014. In July 2017, he co-founded Binance, becoming its CEO and transforming it into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, which grew rapidly during the crypto boom. Due to regulatory pressures, he relocated operations to places like Malta, the Cayman Islands, and eventually Dubai, UAE, where he currently resides. In November 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to violating anti-money laundering laws by failing to implement adequate compliance at Binance and allowing illegal proceeds to flow through the platform. He paid a $50 million personal fine, Binance paid $4.3 billion in penalties, and he stepped down as CEO while retaining significant influence. As of 2024, he faces potential prison time and deportation risks despite his Canadian citizenship. His leadership at Binance has been linked to triggering the collapse of rival exchange FTX.