Binance's CZ Laughs Off Claim He's Richer Than Elon Musk, Putin: 'I Am A Small Potato'

Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as "CZ", the CEO of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, has disputed the claim that he is the third richest man in finance.

What Happened: According to Bloomberg’s list, CZ has a net worth of $28.2 billion. However, CZ himself dismissed these figures in a tweet on Thursday by writing “Numbers all wrong. I don’t have anywhere near as much. Don’t know why they do this.”

CZ also sought to clarify his views on rival exchanges. The CEO of Binance went on to state that he does not view FTX as competition, though he does “welcome more well-run exchanges in the space.”

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Why It Matters:  According to Bloomberg’s report, CZ is a Chinese-born entrepreneur who was raised in Canada. Prior to his founding of Binance, CZ worked on trading systems. The article also noted that Binance reportedly boasts annual revenue that exceeds $12 billion, a figure that has not been confirmed by the company. 

One Twitter user, Zoran Kole, responded to CZ’s tweet. He said, “CZ, I have the utmost respect for you…I heard that you are actually one of the richest men on earth dwarfing Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin.” 

However, CZ once again disputed the notion that he is among the wealthiest people on the planet. In his response to Kole, CZ wrote, “No way. I am a small potato in a small (but growing) industry. Those guys are 100x bigger, or more.”

Binance was founded in China in 2017 but later moved its headquarters to Malta due to regulatory issues in its home country. It allows users to trade various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD and offers a range of other services such as staking, lending, and margin trading.

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