https://www.scmp.com/rss/523302/feed The latest news and top stories on Zhao Changpeng, the founder and largest shareholder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Also known as CZ, he has a background in software engineering and high-frequency trading systems, and previously served as the chief technology officer of OKCoin. He resigned as the CEO of Binance in November 2023 after a four-month jail term for pleading guilty to money laundering in the US. He now focuses on developing the BNB Chain, philanthropy through Giggle Academy... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Bloomberg Bloomberg Binance Holdings named co-founder He Yi as co-CEO in the biggest change to its top leadership since Zhao Changpeng stepped down from running the cryptocurrency exchange two years ago. She will share the title with Richard Teng, who succeeded Zhao as CEO of the world’s largest crypto trading venue in November 2023. Zhao, who resigned after pleading guilty to anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations, and He have children together. Zhao was pardoned by US President Donald Trump in October,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3335126/crypto-giant-binance-appoints-co-founder-he-yi-co-ceo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3335126/crypto-giant-binance-appoints-co-founder-he-yi-co-ceo?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Dec 2025 01:44:33 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Hong Kong continues to ratchet up its cryptocurrency development efforts, as the city’s securities regulator fine-tunes rules to boost the liquidity of local digital-asset trading platforms. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said it would allow locally licensed digital-asset exchanges to integrate their order books with those of their affiliated platforms globally. “What we noticed is that through the creation of this close-loop environment, we are creating a pocket of liquidity only... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3331513/hong-kong-pushes-adjustments-digital-asset-rules-beijing-remains-cautious-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3331513/hong-kong-pushes-adjustments-digital-asset-rules-beijing-remains-cautious-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Nov 2025 12:00:24 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Binance founder Zhao Changpeng has dismissed a report that estimated his fortune at 190 billion yuan (US$26.7 billion), saying the actual amount is much smaller, as the cryptocurrency entrepreneur steps back into the spotlight after receiving a pardon from US President Donald Trump. In a social media post on Tuesday, Zhao – widely known as CZ in the crypto industry – rejected a report that ranked him as China’s 13th richest person, calling it “nonsense”. He added that the reported net-worth... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3330784/binance-founder-cz-rejects-nonsense-report-ranking-him-chinas-13th-richest-person?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3330784/binance-founder-cz-rejects-nonsense-report-ranking-him-chinas-13th-richest-person?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:00:18 +0000 Ann Cao,Wency Chen Ann Cao,Wency Chen Freshly pardoned by US President Donald Trump, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng is expected to return at the helm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily turnover, according to analysts. The Chinese-born Canadian entrepreneur, widely known as CZ, received a pardon after he pleaded guilty to breaking US anti-money-laundering laws and went to prison for four months, part of a US$4.3 billion settlement with the US government to resolve a years-long investigation into... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3330261/crypto-tycoon-zhao-changpeng-plans-comeback-after-trump-pardon-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3330261/crypto-tycoon-zhao-changpeng-plans-comeback-after-trump-pardon-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:00:41 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng has received a pardon from US President Donald Trump after he went to prison for failing to safeguard the world’s largest crypto exchange against money laundering. “President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Zhao wrote in a social media post that he was “deeply grateful for today’s pardon and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3330124/binance-founder-zhao-pardoned-trump-latest-crypto-clemency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3330124/binance-founder-zhao-pardoned-trump-latest-crypto-clemency?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:31:23 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow A new real-market cryptocurrency trading experiment that pits leading artificial intelligence models against one another to evaluate their respective investing abilities has seen a DeepSeek model outperform rivals so far. In Alpha Arena, launched on Saturday by US research firm Nof1, six large language models (LLMs) were given US$10,000 each to invest in six cryptocurrency perpetual contracts on the decentralised exchange Hyperliquid, including bitcoin and solana. As of 2pm on Tuesday,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3329784/deepseek-outperforms-ai-rivals-real-money-real-market-crypto-showdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3329784/deepseek-outperforms-ai-rivals-real-money-real-market-crypto-showdown?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:00:22 +0000 David Lam David Lam One of the cryptocurrency industry’s most prominent figures, Zhao Changpeng, the former CEO of Binance, has claimed that crypto is safer than fiat currency. He made a powerful comparison: only 0.15 per cent of crypto volume is linked to illicit activity, which he said was 30 times less than the 5 per cent rate found in the traditional banking sector. But the reality is quite different and underscores the need for stricter regulation of crypto assets. Based on his claim, Zhao argued that global... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3329454/safer-cash-real-risks-cryptocurrency-poses-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3329454/safer-cash-real-risks-cryptocurrency-poses-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Oct 2025 02:30:09 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen A Hong Kong subsidiary of China Merchants Bank has tokenised a US$3.5 billion money market fund on BNB Chain – the blockchain developed by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance – as the city’s real-world asset (RWA) drive continues to attract Chinese financial institutions. CMB International Asset Management Limited partnered with BNB Chain to tokenise its CMB International USD Money Market Fund, issuing two tokens that would be available to accredited investors, the companies... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3329078/china-merchants-banks-hong-kong-arm-tokenises-money-market-fund-bnb-chain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3329078/china-merchants-banks-hong-kong-arm-tokenises-money-market-fund-bnb-chain?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Oct 2025 06:22:29 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen The global cryptocurrency industry is searching for the trader who made massive gains betting against bitcoin and ether, as the sector grapples with the aftermath of a market rout that wiped out US$19 billion last week. While the crash on Friday liquidated more than 1.6 million traders within just 24 hours, some investors had profited handsomely – including one trader who earned nearly US$200 million from short positions on bitcoin and ether, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham. Those... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3328948/bitcoin-crash-sparks-search-mystery-crypto-trader-who-profited-us200-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3328948/bitcoin-crash-sparks-search-mystery-crypto-trader-who-profited-us200-million?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 08:32:08 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Major cryptocurrency tokens, including bitcoin and BNB, reached record highs this week amid government turmoil around the world that drove up alternative asset prices, which elated China’s crypto community as the country reconsiders digital assets such as stablecoins. Bitcoin passed the US$126,000 level on Monday, a new all-time high for the world’s largest cryptocurrency token, before falling more than 1 per cent to below US$124,000 on Tuesday. BNB, the native token of the world’s largest... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3328141/bitcoin-bnb-hit-record-highs-global-turmoil-spurs-flight-safe-haven-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3328141/bitcoin-bnb-hit-record-highs-global-turmoil-spurs-flight-safe-haven-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:00:08 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company backed by the family of US President Donald Trump, has frozen the tokens of Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain and one of the most vocal supporters of the venture, in a rare show of disharmony between the project and the Hong Kong-based crypto billionaire. In a Friday post on social media platform X, Sun said his tokens on the World Liberty Financial blockchain were frozen, confirming data that the Trump venture had blacklisted Sun’s... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3324540/trump-family-backed-blockchain-project-freezes-tokens-major-backer-justin-sun?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3324540/trump-family-backed-blockchain-project-freezes-tokens-major-backer-justin-sun?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:00:08 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen OSL Group, operator of Hong Kong’s first listed and licensed virtual asset trading platform, on Wednesday also became the first exchange in the city to support professional trading of BNB, the cryptocurrency backed by Binance founder Zhao Changpeng. Trading of BNB on OSL was strictly limited to institutional investors with a portfolio of at least HK$8 million (US$1.02 million), who are allowed to trade the token with US dollars as well as the world’s two largest stablecoins, USDT and USDC. In a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3324218/hong-kong-crypto-exchange-osl-starts-institutional-trading-binance-backed-bnb-tokens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3324218/hong-kong-crypto-exchange-osl-starts-institutional-trading-binance-backed-bnb-tokens?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Sep 2025 11:42:48 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen A new cryptocurrency token from US President Donald Trump’s family venture World Liberty Financial started trading on Monday, raking in billions of dollars with noticeable support from China’s crypto community after his son’s trip to Asia. WLFI, first issued to private investors last year, became available on major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, OKX and Coinbase. Binance, founded by Chinese Canadian entrepreneur Zhao Changpeng, also known as CZ, was the first crypto exchange to list... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3324045/trump-related-token-starts-trading-support-chinese-crypto-players?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3324045/trump-related-token-starts-trading-support-chinese-crypto-players?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Sep 2025 10:00:13 +0000 Zhou Xin Zhou Xin Hong Kong has the conditions to become a major hub for virtual assets, rivalling markets like the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but the city’s regulators must act swiftly to realise its potential, according to Zhao Changpeng, founder and largest shareholder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post on Friday, Zhao, widely known as CZ, said the Hong Kong government had shown a “very clear attitude towards embracing Web3” and had the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3323465/binance-founder-cz-hong-kong-can-rival-us-crypto-hub-its-future-hinges-speed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3323465/binance-founder-cz-hong-kong-can-rival-us-crypto-hub-its-future-hinges-speed?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Aug 2025 23:00:10 +0000