Who founded Binance? The Story of Binance Ownership:
Whether you’re new to the cryptocurrency space or not, you must be familiar with Binance, but do you know who founded Binance? Do you know how Binance came to be? Or who came up with that “little” idea that has now transformed the world?
Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and so it’s only right to be curious about who founded Binance. You must have been curious at one point or another, right? Right!
So if you’ve been curious about who founded Binance, by the end of this article, your questions will be answered. If this looks like what you’re interested in, please keep reading.
What is Binance?
Binance is a blockchain company. It comprises of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, Binance Labs, and other companies all under the same umbrella.
In this case, we will be talking about the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. When we say “world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange”, we measure this in terms of the volume of trades that happen there every day.
Binance is a popular choice of platform for buying and selling of various digital assets which includes over 500 different cryptocurrencies, and trading directly with each other. This cryptocurrency exchange offers more than just buying and selling of crypto, it also provides different options for users to earn passive income on their crypto.
Binance has over 190 million users from over 180 countries.
Binance is a centralized exchange. Centralized exchanges are run by a central authority, which holds custody of users’ funds and controls the exchange’s operations.
Who Founded Binance?
The name of the man who founded Binance is Changpeng Zhao. He goes by “CZ”. He was born in Jiangsu, China in 1977, and in the 80s, he moved to Vancouver Canada.
Now however, he lives in Dubai.
In 2013, Changpeng Zhao was playing poker with his friends, when one of them asked him if he had heard about Bitcoin.
At the time, CZ knew nothing about Bitcoin, but he was willing to find out all he can about it. To do this, he downloaded the Bitcoin whitepaper, printed it, and read every single word.
Few months later, he became convinced that crypto is the future of money. He was so convicted that he sold his apartment in Shanghai and invested it in Bitcoin
Now, he is ranked the 25th richest person in the world with a net worth estimated at $56.9 billion as at August 2024, and the richest Canadian overall.
Features of Binance
Generally, Binance offers a user-friendly interface, and a wide range of features including spot trading, margin trading, futures trading, and staking for more seasoned or advanced traders.
However, here are some more features of Binance:
- Direct Transactions: Binance facilitates direct transactions between buyers and sellers when it comes to peer-to-peer transactions, thereby enabling users to negotiate prices and payment methods based on their preferences. You as a buyer can choose a seller, and then decide to trade with them if they meet your needs
- Variety of Cryptocurrencies: Users can trade a variety of cryptocurrencies on Binance. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and many others.
- Secure Escrow Service: To ensure the security of transactions and make sure the seller deposits the crypto while the buyer also pays for it without one party defaulting, Binance provides an escrow service where the cryptocurrency being sold is held in escrow until the buyer confirms receipt of payment.
- User Ratings and Reviews: Both buyers and sellers on Binance are rated by their counterparts based on their transaction history and behavior, helping to establish trust within the platform. So if you were partially satisfied with a trader, you can rate them.
Another one of the standout features of Binance is its Binance Smart Chain (BSC). This is a blockchain platform that supports the development of decentralized applications which are also known as D’Apps, and DeFi platforms.
The Binance Smart Chain is built using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and is compatible with the Ethereum network, making it easy for developers to port their d’Apps from Ethereum to Binance Smart Chain.
What happened to Changpeng Zhao?
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao promised to embrace and follow regulations all over the world, but behind the scenes, Binance was dodging regulations. In March 2023, the CTFC sued Binance over evading U.S. rules.
This made him step down as CEO to plead guilty to criminal charges in the U.S. of violating anti-money laundering requirements.
Binance as a company would also plead guilty and agree to pay a fine of $4.3 billion, while CZ will maintain his majority ownership.
Conclusion
The story of who founded Binance is a very motivating one that everyone has to hear. It basically shows that anyone can dream, and turn that dream into a reality.
Now that you know the story of who founded Binance, share this article with your friends.
