After more than a year of sideways trading, Binance Coin broke an all-time high above $855 on Monday.
Its 32% July rally catapulted BNB back into the crypto top five by market capitalisation, overtaking Solana after weeks of jostling, according to CoinGecko.
The eye-watering rally also sent Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s estimated net worth soaring, though the precise figure is difficult to pin down.
A forensic analysis cited by Forbes and Gray Wolf Analytics in 2024 suggests the 48-year-old crypto mogul controls roughly 64% of BNB’s circulating supply, or about 90 million tokens. That alone puts his net worth near $75 billion at current prices.
90% stake
The remainder of his wealth is tied to his 90% stake in Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, which the Bloomberg Billionaires Index values at $60 billion.
Combined with his equity stake in Binance, Zhao’s fortune may exceed $100 billion, placing him on par with tycoons Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and even the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.