The post Long Investigations Reveal How Much Binance Founder CZ’s Wealth Is: Here’s How Much BNB He Holds appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance and a leading figure in the cryptocurrency world, doubled his net worth during his time in prison. Zhao, currently the richest person in the crypto industry, has increased his net worth since his incarceration. Forbes now estimates Zhao’s fortune at $61 billion, making him the 24th richest person in the world, just behind Julia Koch and her family. The next richest person in crypto is Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong, whose net worth is $11 billion. There are two main components to CZ’s wealth increase. First, its 90% stake in Binance, a major crypto exchange, is worth $33 billion. This was despite CZ resigning as CEO in November 2023 as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice, in which he was found guilty of money laundering and sanctions violations. His company also paid a heavy penalty of $4.3 billion to the government. However, the impact on Zhao’s personal fortune was less severe, as he only had to pay a $50 million fine. In the six months since its defense, Binance has increased its dominance among crypto exchanges worldwide in terms of trading volume. According to data compiled from The Block, in the six months since he left the company, his share of the total spot market among exchanges increased to 42%, while this rate was on average 38% in the two months before the deal. The significant change in CZ’s net worth is due to Forbes’ discovery of his personal holdings in the BNB token. CZ is estimated to hold 94 million tokens, or 64% of the total 147.5 million BNB tokens in circulation. Forbes estimates that Binance owns 71% of the BNB supply. Despite the exchange’s legal issues, BNB is up 100% in 2024, outpacing other most popular cryptos like Bitcoin…

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Filed under: News - @ June 16, 2024 6:14 am