Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao: Net Worth Far Below Estimates, Actual Worth Around $10 Billion to $30 Billion
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stated in an interview with The New York Times that his lifestyle is not like that of a typical billionaire, and his actual net worth is around $10 billion to $30 billion, significantly lower than Forbes' estimate of over $100 billion.
He mentioned that even a small portion of this amount would be enough for a comfortable life, with $10 million being sufficient. The New York Times, in its October 2026 report from Abu Dhabi, still listed him as the richest person in the crypto industry, estimating his worth at $114 billion based on his majority stake in Binance.
The interview took place after he completed a four-month prison sentence and was pardoned in October 2025. The report described him living in a nine-bedroom villa near St. Regis, with four bodyguards and a chef, and owning a yacht named Da Moon; in June 2026, he drove a white Nissan SUV to meet reporters and referred to himself as an ordinary person.
The valuation discrepancy mainly arises from Binance not being publicly listed and not disclosing audited financial reports. Forbes has long valued him based on approximately 90% of his exchange equity plus his BNB holdings. In March 2026, Zhao publicly refuted this calculation, stating that crypto prices had fallen over 50% from their peak, while his net worth was adjusted upwards, which he deemed illogical; he also claimed that Binance's annual revenue is about $5 billion, not the $16 billion used by some analysts.
The self-reported range of $10 billion to $30 billion still covers his stake in Binance, BNB inventory, and personal cash. The $10 million figure is set as the comfort line for living, which is not the same metric as the actual expenses for the villa, security, and yacht. His majority stake has not been transferred since his guilty plea in 2023, and the company fines and personal wealth are treated separately.
The buyers are billionaires pricing Binance based on private equity multiples, while the sellers are controlling shareholders who refuse to confirm their book wealth using the same multiples. The driving force behind this situation is the lack of a transaction price for non-public assets. Overvaluation boosts industry narratives and equity collateral space, while undervaluation lowers the public wealth anchor; the beneficiaries are those who continue to price based on control and Zhao, who still holds the exchange, while the pressured parties are analysts who have incorporated the $16 billion revenue assumption into their models.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index had previously pegged him at around $78 billion in mid-2026, which is about $30 billion off from Forbes' real-time estimate, with the gap itself exceeding the market value of most publicly listed companies.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Since founding Binance in 2017, Changpeng Zhao's wealth has been tied to unlisted equity. Forbes' algorithm values him based on approximately 90% of exchange shares plus BNB holdings; after he resigned as CEO and pleaded guilty in November 2023, his equity was not adjusted according to the fine ratio, and he was still referred to as the majority shareholder in 2026 by The New York Times. In March 2026, he publicly revised his annual income from the $16 billion used by outsiders to about $5 billion, effectively dismantling the profit assumptions in the ranking model.
The money remains in equity and token holdings, not in tradable accounts. High valuations allow Binance to continue being treated as infrastructure in sovereign fund and stablecoin settlements, rather than an asset that needs to be discounted annually; lowering the self-reported figure reduces the usable wealth from $114 billion to $10 billion to $30 billion, minimizing tax, collateral, and public scrutiny based on ranking numbers. The $10 million comfort line is a consumption metric, not an equity metric.
Comparable cases include Elon Musk repeatedly questioning his liquidity on the billionaire list, and Michael Dell using unlisted equity to counter public market valuations. Zhao's current stage is not about reducing holdings to exit, but about controlling confirmation: he has served his sentence and been pardoned, while the company is still priced by the original shareholders. The FTX path involved a zeroing out of equity after client fund gaps; Binance's path is that equity continues to be the subject of wealth after the fine is settled.
The essence is the transfer of pricing power. Private exchanges lack transaction prices, and each entity—rankings, controlling shareholders, and income assumptions—writes a different number, with discrepancies reaching up to $30 billion. The mechanism is that in the absence of audited financial reports, external multiples dictate the narrative, while internal shareholders decide which number is used for financing and which is denied. The $10 million comfort line does not change the fact that control remains the only repeatable asset that can be valued.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
The rankings set the multiples, shareholders recognize liquidity.
Unlisted equity has no price, only algorithms.
Living expenses are cash, wealth debates are about control.