Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is pushing back on Forbes’ latest wealth estimate, and he’s not being subtle about it.
The publication pegged his net worth at $110 billion, which would rank him above Bill Gates as the 17th-wealthiest person on the planet. CZ laughed it off on X, questioning the logic behind the number entirely.
His main issue? Forbes claims his fortune jumped $47 billion in a single year — even as crypto prices fell over 50%.
“How is that last sentence possible?” CZ wrote, quoting the summary directly. The surge was mostly attributed to a rebound in Binance’s valuation. Forbes estimates the exchange generates around $16 billion a year in revenue, and CZ still owns approximately 90% of it.
But the math doesn’t add up for the crypto mogul. Other crypto billionaires saw their wealth shrink considerably over the same period. The idea that his net worth surged by tens of billions during a brutal bear market defies logic.
Others in the crypto community backed him up. One X user pointed out that CZ has repeatedly rejected these rankings, calling them “a guess a number” list rather than facts. CZ endorsed the take with a simple “TCC is right.”
So is CZ richer than Bill Gates? Even he doesn’t seem to know — and he’s the one who’d know best.
