Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) overtook co-founder Bitmain in the latest Hurun Global Rich list
While China now has more billionaires than the United States and India combined, CEO Binance can have more money than anyone else in crypto. Specifically, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) overtook the co-founder of cryptocurrency giant Bitmain in the latest Hurun Global Rich List. This is an annual ranking of the world’s largest billionaires published in Hurun Report.
Bitmain’s co-founder has fallen behind Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao
Released on February 26, the Hurun Report’s global list of 2,816 billionaires includes six individuals who make money from the Blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.
Similar to the previous aggregates of the Hurun Research Institute, the Hurun Global Rich List 2020 includes well-known industry names such as Binance’s CZ, OKCoin founder Xu Mingxing and Chris Larsen, co-founder and former CEO of Ripple.
However, the latest list of Hurun blockchain billionaires has at least one significant change – Bitmain’s ousted co-founder, Micree Ketuan Zhan, who is known as the long-term leader on the list, has fallen behind CEO Binance.
Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance CEO
In one of the previous annual lists of the world’s largest billionaires, Hurun Global Rich List 2019, Zhan is ranked as the top billionaire among the five cryptocurrency and blockchain billionaires, with an estimated fortune of up to 2.7 billion USD. In the latest Hurun list, Zhan has dropped to second place, with net worth standing at $ 1.6 billion.
At the same time, CEO Binance’s ranking has increased significantly from $ 1.3 billion in 2019 to $ 2.6 billion in 2020, according to a public listing.
The six richest blockchain and cryptocurrency on the latest Hurun list are:
- Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao ($ 2.6 billion).
- Bitmain’s ousted co-founder, Micree Zhan Ketuan ($ 1.6 billion).
- OKCoin founder Xu Mingxing (the US $ 1.4 billion).
- Ripple’s Chris Larsen ($ 1.3 billion).
- Huobi Founder Leon Li ($ 1.1 billion).
- Brian Armstrong, co-founder, and CEO of major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase ($ 1 billion).
Zhan was removed from Bitmain in late 2019
Bitmain’s co-founder made it to the Hurun billionaire rankings that appeared after Zhan was dismissed as the company’s legal representative in November 2019. Zhan was dismissed by Bitmain’s current CEO, Jihan Wu. In January 2020, Zhan publicly protested allegations of layoffs in Bitmain, allegedly planning to cut 50% of his workforce concerning the upcoming Halving in May 2020. Zhan also has initiated proceedings in court against Bitmain’s controlling shareholders of the company.
Micree Ketuan Zhan, Bitmain’s ousted co-founder
Zhan’s removal from Bitmain before reports of Bitmain seeing its hashrate market share drop from 75% to 66% in December 2019.
Meanwhile, Binance’s CZ has more and more traction in the cryptocurrency community to become the top-ranked list of the Top 10 celebrities and influencers in the cryptocurrency market. At the same time, CZ may have faced several important issues lately due to unexpected Binance maintenance on February 19, which proved to be a significant problem on the platform.
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