- The founder of Binance confessed that he’s always buying the top, citing his 2014 Bitcoin purchase at $600, which dropped to $200 shortly after.
- The remarks come after CZ refuted reports alleging he intended to launch a crypto bank in Kyrgyzstan, describing them as false.
Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, is the founder of Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. As of late 2025, CZ ranks as the 24th wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $62.1 billion, largely due to his 90% ownership stake in Binance.
In a recent post on X, CZ humorously admitted his less-than-perfect track record when it comes to market timing:
Every time I buy coins, I get stuck in a losing position, 100% record. In 2014, I bought BTC at an average price of $600, and it dropped to $200 within a month, lasting for 18 months.
That purchase marked CZ’s first-ever Bitcoin buy, five years after BTC’s initial launch in 2009. Despite the short-term pain, the investment paid off long-term. By 2016, Bitcoin had rebounded to around $1,000, and now, 9 years later, BTC is trading right above $100,000.
By mid-2017, CZ had launched Binance, securing $15 million in funding via an ICO for its native token, Binance Coin (BNB). CZ noted that even the BNB buy wasn’t without turbulence. “In 2017, I bought BNB, which also dropped 20–30%, lasting for a few weeks. This time… who knows,” he wrote.
By February 2018, just months after Binance’s rise, CZ’s net worth had soared, making him the third-richest person in crypto, valued between $1.1 billion and $2 billion at the time. Today, BNB is the fifth-largest token with a market capitalization of about $129 billion, with a price of $942.
Earlier, on November 2, CZ also disclosed a personal investment in Aster (ASTER), a newly listed token on Binance. “Full disclosure. I just bought some Aster today, using my own money, on Binance. I am not a trader. I buy and hold,” he said in an X post.
At the time of the purchase, Aster was trading at $0.93 and later surged over 20% to reach $1.19. The price has since fluctuated, currently trading around $0.92, reflecting a 7.26% drop over the past day.
CZ under scrutiny
Changpeng Zhao has once again found himself at the center of global attention following a series of controversial developments. On October 24, U.S. President Donald Trump granted him a full presidential pardon, officially confirmed by the White House a day earlier.
The decision comes just two years after Zhao’s guilty plea to federal anti–money laundering violations, effectively erasing his criminal record.
Soon after the pardon, CZ announced plans to pursue a defamation lawsuit against Senator Elizabeth Warren, who alleged that he “pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge” and secured his pardon through ties to Trump’s World Liberty Financial stablecoin project, a USD1-backed token reportedly linked to a $2 billion deal involving Binance.
Warren described the move as “corruption that Congress should stop,” posting her remarks shortly after the pardon was made public. CZ has also had to refute speculation about plans to launch a private crypto bank in Kyrgyzstan after President Sadyr Japarov mentioned his name in relation to an institution called Bereket Bank.
Zhao denied the claim, but the CEO has ongoing cooperation with Kyrgyz authorities, including the October launch of a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Kyrgyzstani som (KSGT), which operates on Binance’s BNB Chain.