Changpeng Zhao, widely known in the crypto space as CZ, is officially richer than tech legend Bill Gates. According to the newly released Forbes 2026 World Billionaires list, the founder of Binance has seen his net worth skyrocket to 110 billion dollars. This places him at the 17th spot globally. What makes this milestone absolutely staggering is that it comes a mere 17 months after he walked out of a federal prison in California. His meteoric rise shows thatis no longer just a fringe element of global finance. It is actively reshaping who holds actual power and influence on the world stage.
CZ saw his wealth jump by a massive 47 billion dollars in a single year. The main engine behind this explosion is Binance itself. The world's largest crypto exchange currently commands roughly 38 percent of the global market share.
According to data from, the valuation of the company sits at roughly 100 billion dollars, and CZ owns about 90 percent of it. The numbers are undeniable. Binance pulled in an estimated 16 to 17 billion dollars in revenue across 2024 and 2025. That is nearly two and a half times what its closest competitor Coinbase generated.
This financial comeback also neatly aligns with Donald Trump returning to the White House. Back in March 2025, Binance integrated the World Liberty Financial USD1 stablecoin, a project tied to the Trump family, alongside a 2 billion dollar investment from the Abu Dhabi firm MGX. Following this, Trump granted CZ a full presidential pardon. While Trump has publicly denied that the pardon was linked to any business dealings, CZ recently signaled his confident return to American business circles by appearing at a high profile forum at Mar a Lago.
Despite the massive financial success, some dark clouds still linger over the company. Recent reports from major outlets like Fortune and the Wall Street Journal have alleged that Binance fired senior compliance investigators who flagged around 1 billion dollars flowing to sanctioned Iranian entities. These serious allegations echo the exact type of conduct that led to CZ pleading guilty in 2023, which resulted in Binance paying a 4.3 billion dollar settlement to United States authorities. For their part, Binance has strongly disputed these new claims and continues to vigorously defend the integrity of its internal compliance programs.
CZ is now officially ranking above massive traditional finance figures like Michael Bloomberg and hedge fund giant Ken Griffin. He is one of only 20 people on the entire planet worth over 100 billion dollars. However, he is not the only cryptocurrency pioneer making massive waves this year. Giancarlo Devasini, the Chief Financial Officer of Tether, has secured the 22nd spot with an incredible 89.3 billion dollar fortune.
Looking at the broader data for 2026, the real story is how incredibly fast fortunes are being built, largely driven by artificial intelligence. A record breaking 3,428 billionaires made the cut this year. Elon Musk completely dominates the top of the list with an unprecedented 839 billion dollar fortune, adding nearly 497 billion dollars in just one year alone. Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin trail behind him in second and third place. The gap between the absolute top tier of the ultra rich and everyone else is widening at a historic pace. In fact, Musk alone holds more wealth than the combined net worth of the bottom 693 billionaires on the exact same list.
