In a revealing interview on the All-In podcast, Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao detailed the origin story of his crypto wealth, which began not with trading but at a Shanghai poker game in 2013. Zhao recounted how a friend, venture capitalist Ron Tao, first urged him to "look at this thing called Bitcoin." The pitch gained serious weight when another friend, Bobby Lee—then preparing to become CEO of BTC China (BTCC)—framed it as a critical portfolio decision. Lee advised Zhao to allocate 10% of his net worth to Bitcoin, arguing the asymmetric risk/reward was compelling.
Zhao spent roughly six months deeply studying the Bitcoin white paper and engaging on forums. By late 2013, when he felt he fully understood it, Bitcoin's price had already rocketed from about $70 to around $1,000, making him feel he had "missed it." However, determined not to sit out what he saw as the second foundational technology wave after the internet, Zhao made a drastic move. He sold his apartment in Shanghai for approximately $900,000 and used the proceeds to buy Bitcoin, averaging an entry price of about $600 per coin as the market declined from $800 to $400. He executed this trade despite not having a stable job at the time.
Zhao's conviction was further solidified by attending a small Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas in December 2013, where he met early builders like Vitalik Buterin and Charlie Lee, contrasting the positive community with negative media narratives. This early investment was the first step in a sequence that led him to operational roles at Blockchain.info and OKCoin, and ultimately to founding Binance. Today, estimates of Zhao's fortune vary, with Forbes listing it at $78.8 billion and Bloomberg at $52.2 billion as of February 2026. At the time of the reports, Binance Coin (BNB) was trading at $592.44.
