Binance didn’t just enter the crypto scene in 2017, it exploded into it. Within its first year, the exchange pulled off what most companies only dream of: a $1 billion profit. And that wasn’t over five years or even two. It happened between July 2017 and mid-2018, in just 12 months.
The man behind it, Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, had no connections, no legacy, and no inherited fortune. What he did have was conviction and a past that shaped every step of the way.
In a podcast conversation with Anthony Pompliano, CZ opened up about that past. Born in a small village in China, he grew up without electricity or running water. His family fetched water from a well, and he studied by the dim light of an oil lamp.
By the time he was 12, the family had moved to Vancouver, Canada. Even there, things weren’t easy. His mother worked in a sewing factory, and money was tight. “We were at the bottom,” he said, “but we never had debt.” That sense of discipline and resilience stuck.
Fast forward to 2017. The crypto boom was in full swing, and Binance launched at the perfect moment. In just three months, the platform saw such insane demand that its CTO was barely sleeping, at one point handling 300,000 new user signups daily.
Most of that billion came in just five months. Binance didn’t just ride the 2017 crypto hype; it stood out. Low fees, smooth tech, and a user-first attitude made it the go-to platform for traders everywhere. And when the market cooled off in 2018, the team didn’t lose their head. They took that time to reset and build things stronger.
CZ wasn’t untouched by controversy. A $40 million hack in 2019 tested the exchange’s security and public trust. Then in 2023, he served a short jail term in the U.S. for a banking secrecy violation. But those hits didn’t stop the ship. If anything, they proved it could weather storms.
What makes CZ’s story so striking isn’t just the scale of Binance’s rise, it’s where it started. From a village with no electricity to leading the biggest crypto exchange in the world, it’s a story built on belief, timing, and staying calm when everything’s on fire.
He first discovered Bitcoin in 2013. Twelve years later, he’s helped shape the industry around it.
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