{"id":492693,"date":"2022-09-13T16:47:18","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T13:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/who-is-changpeng-zhao-canadas-crypto-king\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T16:47:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T13:47:18","slug":"who-is-changpeng-zhao-canadas-crypto-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/who-is-changpeng-zhao-canadas-crypto-king\/","title":{"rendered":"#Who is Changpeng Zhao, Canada\u2019s crypto king?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a32a22d66588\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a32a22d66588\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/who-is-changpeng-zhao-canadas-crypto-king\/#%E2%80%9CWho_is_Changpeng_Zhao_Canadas_crypto_king%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Who is Changpeng Zhao, Canada\u2019s crypto king?&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CWho_is_Changpeng_Zhao_Canadas_crypto_king%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Who is Changpeng Zhao, Canada\u2019s crypto king?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                <strong>The first time<\/strong> I spoke with Changpeng Zhao, he was explaining the intricacies of Chinese martial arts. It was March of 2021, and I had joined the Vancouver billionaire and CEO of Binance\u2014the world\u2019s largest platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency\u2014on a group audio call on Clubhouse, then an exclusive chat <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>. \u201cA junior kung fu student will have a plan,\u201d said Zhao, who is a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. For Zhao, that kind of thinking is entirely too rigid. \u201cIf the opponent is dynamic,\u201d he said, \u201ca preset of moves does not work very well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rich, successful men tend to see everything as an analogy for business. Zhao has developed an opposing tack to those newbie kung fu students, a decide-and-execute strategy that\u2019s been an integral part of Binance\u2019s operating model from its startup days in 2017 to now. That approach has proved profitable: last year, the exchange had 80 million users and processed nearly US$34.2 trillion in trades. This past January, Bloomberg added Zhao to its Billionaires Index in a blazing debut, with an estimated net worth of US$96 billion. A spartan man with few possessions, Zhao has disputed Bloomberg\u2019s calculation, but it\u2019s hard not to marvel at the number. Zhao was the richest Canadian: richer than the storied Thomson family, nearly as rich as <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg, and richer than many small countries. He was the wealthiest man few Canadians had ever heard of.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>READ: The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A \u201cPretendian\u201d investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the crypto world, however, fortunes can be fleeting. By the time Zhao and I spoke again in July, Bitcoin, a de facto index for the wider industry, had tumbled by almost two-thirds to a low of US$20,000, marking the onset of a so-called crypto winter. Zhao\u2019s net worth had tumbled, too\u2014by a reported US$85 billion. And while his company was spared from the layoffs and bankruptcies that swept the landscape, its business practices have attracted scrutiny. Binance, along with a slew of American crypto exchanges, is reportedly under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and has otherwise tangled with authorities across the globe, including in Canada. The company vehemently insists that it runs a clean shop, but for Binance and Zhao\u2014a man who went from virtual unknown to elusive billionaire in less than a decade\u2014the bigger the success, the bigger the troubles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p>Zhao, bespectacled and slender, was born in 1977 in China\u2019s Jiangsu province, north of Shanghai. The Cultural Revolution ended following the death of Mao Zedong, and the country was mired in poverty and famine. Everyday citizens were regularly punished for perceived ideological crimes. Zhao\u2019s university-instructor father, Shengkai, was branded a pro-bourgeois intellectual and exiled to a rural area. Shengkai left China to pursue a doctorate at the University of British Columbia in 1984; the rest of the family joined him in Vancouver in 1989, after the protests in Tiananmen Square. Zhao says that it was only after he arrived in Canada, at the age of 12, that he first drank fresh milk, then a rare commodity in China. During his teen years, the future billionaire took on a variety of part-time jobs\u2014at a Chevron gas station, at McDonald\u2019s and as a referee at volleyball <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>s. Shengkai, a math whiz and programmer, splurged on a 286 DOS computer priced at $7,000, the equivalent of $14,000 today. The <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a>, cutting-edge for its time, made an impression on his son. Zhao soon enrolled in programming courses in high school and later majored in computer <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> at McGill University, where his father was once a visiting scholar.<\/p>\n<p>Zhao\u2019s trajectory started to crystallize in the early 2000s, after graduation: he interned for a subcontractor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and developed trading software for Bloomberg Tradebook. As Zhao matured, so did China, which in the years since his family\u2019s departure had welcomed economic reform. In 2005, Zhao joined other \u201csea turtles\u201d\u2014people of Chinese descent educated elsewhere\u2014and moved back to the bustling motherland. \u201cA couple of guys said, \u2018Let\u2019s do a startup in Shanghai,\u2019\u2009\u201d Zhao says. \u201cSo I just went.\u201d Zhao founded Fusion Systems, an IT and business consultancy that went on to count Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse as clients.<\/p>\n<p>Zhao doesn\u2019t have any old-fashioned political affiliations, although he does align himself with one side along a newer fault line: the \u201cAnywheres\u201d versus the \u201cSomewheres.\u201d The terms were first coined for the opposing sides of the Brexit debate, capturing the conflict between mobile globalists and those with roots in a particular local identity. \u201cI\u2019m definitely an Anywhere guy,\u201d Zhao says. \u201cBorders are just conceptual things that some people made up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin was a natural fit for a man who sees himself as living and thinking beyond conventional national boundaries. Created in 2009 by an unknown entity by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, the currency can be transferred from user to user without the involvement of financial intermediaries. Bitcoin\u2019s community jokingly dubbed it \u201cmagic internet money,\u201d as its underlying blockchain technology facilitated transactions as easily as sending an instant message. \u201cWe are in a much less geographically constrained world,\u201d Zhao says. \u201cA blockchain also doesn\u2019t have the concept of borders, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zhao first learned about crypto during poker games with friends. According to one finance professional who explained the concept to him, Zhao\u2019s interest went beyond simple curiosity. \u201cHe took action, you know?\u201d says his friend, who asked to remain anonymous. \u201cHe really studied it and started looking for opportunities in that area, as far back as 2013.\u201d By then, Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency universe had grown into a billion-dollar industry, much of it concentrated in Shanghai, the booming tech capital of China. Zhao attended crypto conferences and found work at emerging firms like Blockchain.com and Okcoin. He sold his apartment in Shanghai and dropped roughly US$1 million to buy Bitcoin at US$600 per unit. Zhao maintained his conviction even as property in Shanghai doubled in value and crypto\u2019s fell by half\u2014his first winter.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, he founded his own exchange platform in Hong Kong. Its name, Binance, was a combination of two words: \u201cbinary,\u201d as in the ones and zeros of computer code, and \u201cfinance.\u201d Like many other crypto businesses, it functioned like a stock exchange, matching buyers and sellers and taking a cut of every trade. Zhao seemed to have a grander vision in mind, suggested by Binance\u2019s early motto: \u201cexchange the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p>When Bitcoin was invented, naturally, there were no specific laws in place for it. Authorities weren\u2019t sure whether or how to apply existing financial regulations. Nobody said you couldn\u2019t build a platform around magic internet money, or even make and sell your own coin. In the eyes of crypto entrepreneurs, they were free to build a new world without the usual institutional constraints. \u201cMy worldview, in most places I\u2019ve lived, has been: if there\u2019s no law against it, it is legal,\u201d Zhao says. Binance\u2019s founding was fortuitously timed: in 2017, Bitcoin surged 20-fold to US$20,000 a unit. Binance sold its own token, BNB, to raise funds for its launch, and became the go-to market for every crypto coin imaginable. But soon, China, which had so readily welcomed Zhao back, became more risk-averse. The country cracked down hard, banning some crypto fundraising and shutting down domestic exchanges. Hong Kong was only nominally a separate jurisdiction, and Binance still served users in the mainland. Zhao, who seemed preternaturally sensitive to the way the wind blew, plotted a move next-door, to Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Aided by the sheer number of coins it listed\u2014and the roadblocks now in the way of its Chinese competitors\u2014Binance experienced an overwhelming surge in popularity. Half a year after its launch, the platform had to suspend the creation of new accounts, updating its infrastructure to accommodate the influx of traffic. Existing Binance accounts were being sold for a premium online. In January of 2018, US$6 billion flowed through the exchange in a single day. The next month, Forbes, notable for its rich lists, crowned Zhao its cover star. China wasn\u2019t the only country trying to bring order to the field, however, and Zhao and Binance quickly outstayed their welcome in Japan. This pattern of closing up shop, setting up shop and closing shop again would repeat in places like Malta and Singapore. \u201cBefore, there was no regulation, and now there is\u2014it happens all the time,\u201d Zhao says. \u201cWhen that happens, you\u2019ve just got to comply. When you think it\u2019s too strict, and there\u2019s no business to do, you leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"longform-pullquote\">\u201cMy worldview, in most places I\u2019ve lived, has been: &#13;<br \/>\nif there\u2019s no law against it, it is legal\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The constant wandering of Binance, led by its nomadic CEO, known by the moniker \u201cCZ\u201d in crypto circles, became central to its identity. As early as 2019, the company claimed to have no headquarters. There were various Binance entities around the world\u2014Binance Holdings Ltd. in the Cayman Islands, Binance Capital Management in the British Virgin Islands\u2014whose individual functions were a mystery to outside observers. This untethered framework was convenient. It presented Binance as a modern firm, with staff all over the globe; it fit with the borderless nature of crypto; and in the view of Zhao\u2019s critics, it made Binance harder to hold accountable. A 2020 <em>Forbes<\/em> article reported on the existence of a leaked tai chi\u2013inspired strategy document allegedly crafted for Binance, aimed at thwarting U.S. regulations through a complex bait-and-switch process using various entities. (In a statement, a rep for Binance called the article\u2019s contents \u201cfalse and misleading,\u201d and denied that the alleged third-party document was produced for or by a current or former Binance employee.)<\/p>\n<p>As the company grew, it became the place to buy, sell, borrow and lend coins, and to execute particularly risky trades. Like in many other sectors, Binance\u2019s revenues rose in the aftermath of the pandemic. Government stimulus ushered in a renewed enthusiasm for investing, and the exchange\u2019s trading volume surpassed an astonishing US$100 billion. Earlier this year, Binance pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in two wildly expensive deals that signalled its hungry ambitions, even though they ultimately fell apart: participating in Elon Musk\u2019s bid to buy Twitter and, separately, pursuing a stake in <em>Forbes<\/em>, the very publication that had covered Binance\u2019s alleged plan to tiptoe, tai chi\u2013style, around regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Zhao\u2014still not a household name\u2014saw his net worth cross into mind-boggling territory, to the tune of US$96 billion. The amount encompassed his stake in Binance, but not his undisclosed personal crypto holdings.\u00a0In other words, he was likely worth far more.<\/p>\n<div class=\"longform-fwimg-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/VirgileSimonBertrand_CZ_Binance-e1663001640802.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photograph by Virgile Simon Bertrand<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Many people became spectacularly rich in the crypto world at the time, albeit not to Zhao\u2019s level. At its peak, near the end of 2021, the value of all cryptocurrencies ballooned to US$3 trillion. One of Binance\u2019s rivals, the Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com, spent roughly US$700 million to rename the Staples Center in L.A. after itself. Research by the U.S. investment firm Jefferies showed that American adults under 35 were using their new cryptocurrency profits to buy art, jewellery and other luxury goods.<\/p>\n<p>Zhao, on the other hand, didn\u2019t own a house or even a car. For a man who had publicly rebuffed the notion of a fixed address, material possessions seemed to be a burden\u2014never mind, as he put it, \u201cparties, boats, champagne\u2014all of that stuff.\u201d When I asked about Zhao\u2019s life outside crypto, his financier friend came up with nothing beyond the fact that Zhao had been excited to see <em>Top Gun:<\/em> <em>Maverick<\/em>. To Zhao, true wealth seemed to be the ability to have nothing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p>In recent months, as governments increased borrowing costs to deal with inflation, all manner of investments faced decline. Bitcoin went into free fall, and crypto firms went from spending millions on Super Bowl ads and celebrity endorsements to rescinding job offers amid waves of layoffs. But Zhao didn\u2019t flinch; he\u2019d lived through winter before. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a surprise,\u201d Zhao says. \u201cAnd when it\u2019s not a surprise, you\u2019re slightly better prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A young, hard-to-police industry, full of riches and potential, had initially attracted the adventurous, but crypto\u2019s volatility has a way of beating a certain humility into them. In a move that flew in the face of his supposed no-strategy strategy, Zhao had, during boom times, instructed Binance\u2019s team to maintain a decade\u2019s worth of operating reserves\u2014an amount in the area of 10 figures. This rainy-day fund enabled Binance to brave this spring\u2019s downturn better than many of its competitors; in fact, the company spent untold sums bailing out some of its troubled peers.<\/p>\n<p>Zhao\u2019s personal net worth, however, took the kind of hit that is, for some, difficult to fathom, sinking to approximately US$11 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index\u2014a US$85 billion loss. Because Zhao\u2019s billions are largely attributable to his sizable stake in Binance, his everyday life was largely unaffected. In mid-May, after Binance\u2019s investment in Terraform Labs\u2019 ill-fated Luna token plummeted from a value of US$1.6 billion to less than US$3,000, Zhao took to Twitter: \u201cPoor again,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n<p>Binance\u2019s ongoing regulatory tussles, though, were more serious. Within the cryptosphere, the firm had <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly enjoyed a good reputation. It reimbursed users after a 2019 hack siphoned funds off the platform. (As a comparison, after the Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX collapsed in 2019, clients were out more than $200 million in crypto assets. Its co-founder and CEO, Gerald Cotten, was reported dead, and, allegedly, he alone held the passwords.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"longform-pullquote\">Most of Binance\u2019s issues were the run-of-the-mill, red-tape sort, easily kept at bay by expensive lawyers; but lately, they have been escalating&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>Most of Binance\u2019s issues were the run-of-the-mill, red-tape sort, easily kept at bay by expensive lawyers; but lately, they have been escalating. After the Ontario Securities Commission instructed crypto-trading platforms to register paperwork by June of 2021, Binance left the province. In April of this year, the Dutch central bank slapped Binance with a \u20ac3.3-million fine for failing to register, after issuing a public warning to the company just under a year prior. SEC investigators are reportedly examining whether Binance\u2019s initial coin offering in 2017 amounted to the sale of a security, one that should have been registered with the agency. And a Reuters investigation from June alleged that Binance processed at least US$2.35 billion in transactions stemming from hacks, investment frauds and illegal drug sales between 2017 and 2021. (A rep for Binance said Reuters\u2019 report used outdated information to establish a false narrative, and that the company has some of the strictest anti\u2013money laundering policies in the fintech industry.)<\/p>\n<p>In May of last year, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Department of Justice and the IRS had launched probes into whether Binance had acted as a conduit for tax evasion and money laundering. There is speculation that Zhao has been avoiding the U.S. due to possible arrest\u2014which he dismissed as \u201cbullshit\u201d to me. \u201cGoogle, Facebook\u2014they\u2019re still working with regulators on data, privacy issues, different things,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just very normal.\u201d Of the more than 40 cryptocurrency exchanges that currently exist in the U.S., every one is reportedly at varying stages of being investigated.<\/p>\n<p>In a case with considerable parallels to Binance\u2019s, the crypto company Block.one had its own run-in with the SEC. It raised funds by selling its own coin, EOS, between 2017 and 2018. Despite racking up US$4 billion in sales, Block.one ended up shelling out a mere US$24 million in a settlement\u2014without admitting or denying wrongdoing. When I asked Zhao if he sees a similar outcome for Binance, he declined to comment, though he did chuckle at Block.one\u2019s relatively small fine. \u201cI guess that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p>While Binance distinguished itself in the beginning with no plan, no headquarters and no borders, Zhao now seems to understand that there are certain forces you cannot avoid, only endure. When we spoke in July, he had been spending time in Paris. Binance\u2019s team was meeting with officials from Europe and Asia. \u201cToday, the regulators are looking at centralized exchanges,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce we settle that, there\u2019s decentralized finance. What are we going to do for NFTs? Then there\u2019s the metaverse. Even if you look at banking regulations, there are still new rules being introduced.\u201d In the end, it was easier for him to change than the institutions. CZ has been swapping his black Binance tees for a suit, covering up the Binance logo tattoo on his forearm and drinking $14 orange juice at the Four Seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Binance set up an office in Calgary toward the end of 2021, with the goal of hiring up to 75 people. Zhao also recently brought on Lawrence Truong as the new vice-president and general manager of Binance\u2019s Canadian operations. Truong previously held positions at TD Bank and the Alberta Securities Commission, and was tapped to turn around the beleaguered Toronto exchange Coinsquare as its former chief compliance officer. \u201cHe was 100 per cent adamant that Binance was going to get to operate in every jurisdiction,\u201d Truong says of Zhao, who has, so far, landed licences for the company in France, Italy, Sweden and Lithuania. Zhao has also obtained a residency card in Dubai, the \u201csomewhere\u201d where he\u2019s decided to buy an apartment and a minivan. As for his plans to settle on a headquarters for Binance, Zhao has said that will happen very soon.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>MORE:\u00a0How three sisters (and their mom) tried to swindle the CRA out of millions<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Some ask whether crypto is dead with the recent crash, or if it will ever be less mercurial. To Zhao, a man well used to winter, those questions aren\u2019t of real concern. \u201cI don\u2019t care what the price of crypto is,\u201d he says. \u201cThe internet is a technology for transferring information. The blockchain is a technology for transferring value.\u201d Crypto will change our lives just as the internet did, he believes. Sure, he told me that he\u2019s not as smart as Steve Jobs, but he also made a comparison to the iconic Apple co-founder unprompted. It\u2019s a subconscious recognition, perhaps, of the niche that Binance occupies in the crypto world: not hugely popular among regulators, but beloved by fans with a tolerance for flux. By August, just two months after Zhao\u2019s net worth had fallen nearly 90 per cent, Bloomberg estimated that it had more than doubled to roughly US$25 billion. In crypto, the only predictability seems to be the lack of it. \u201cIt takes a certain type of personality to deal with a lot of uncertainty,\u201d Zhao says.<\/p>\n<p>In the latter half of 2021, Shengkai died of leukemia near Toronto. Zhao didn\u2019t return to Canada for the funeral, citing COVID restrictions. Plus, he says that the formality wasn\u2019t all that important to the elder Zhao. \u201cMy father was the kind of person who says, \u2018When I die, just take the ashes and spread them over the sea,\u2019\u2009\u201d Zhao says. He was not someone who believed in <em>xingshizhuyi<\/em>\u2014who cared about rituals and ceremony. It was the only time during our conversations that Zhao lapsed into Mandarin.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>This article appears in print in the October 2022 issue of<\/em> Maclean\u2019s <em>magazine. Buy the issue for <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"https:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/macleans-october-2022\" data-stringify-link=\"http:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/copy-of-macleans-single-issue\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">$8.99<\/a>\u00a0or better yet, subscribe to the monthly print magazine for just\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/secure.macleans.ca\/loc\/MME\/head_subscribe\">$29.99<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/macleans-october-2022\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1239735 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Cover_October_DRE.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"391\" height=\"534\"\/><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/longforms\/who-is-changpeng-zhao-canadas-crypto-king\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Who is Changpeng Zhao, Canada\u2019s crypto king?&#8221; The first time I spoke with Changpeng Zhao, he was explaining the intricacies of Chinese martial arts. It was March of 2021, and I had joined the Vancouver billionaire and CEO of Binance\u2014the world\u2019s largest platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency\u2014on a group audio call on Clubhouse, then&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":492694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/\u00a9VirgileSimonBertrand_CZ_Binance-1-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[75014,77672,76127,70610],"class_list":["post-492693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-binance","tag-changpeng-zhao","tag-cryptocurrency","tag-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}