Becoming Homeless, Jobless For Bitcoin: Why Binance CEO CZ's Mom Dubbed Him 'Stupid Kid'

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed in an interview with the YouTuber Nuseir Yassin that he gave up on his job and apartment to bet on Bitcoin BTC/USD. 

What Happened: Zhao told Yassin of the Nas Daily channel that his mother called him stupid for pursuing cryptocurrency and instead wanted him to have a stable career. 

“My friends thought I was crazy because I was selling my apartment in Shanghai to go into crypto and I was quitting my job. So I was jobless [and] homeless. By most people's definitions that is crazy.”

His friend’s assessment was proven correct as Zhao lost $700,000 when Bitcoin crashed two months after he went all-in. 

Zhao’s mother called him a “stupid kid” and lamented why he couldn’t get a nice job in a corporate.

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Why It Matters: Zhao, however, was determined to succeed in cryptocurrency. He said he worked from 9 a.m. to midnight seven days a week for five years and started Binance.

Today, Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Zhao revealed that he was shocked that Binance got so big. He said his goal for Binance was that it should be among the world’s top 10 exchanges in three years, but “we got there in six months.”

On Thursday, Binance said it had committed $500 million to invest in Twitter alongside Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk.

"We're excited to be able to help Elon realize a new vision for Twitter,” said Zhao. 

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Photo courtesy: Binance