Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) holds approximately 64% of the circulating supply of BNB tokens, which totals 94 million tokens. This significant ownership, coupled with CZ’s 90% equity stake in Binance, has elevated him to the rank of the 24th richest person worldwide.
BNB, backed by Binance, currently stands as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a maximum supply capped at 200 million tokens.
BNB Token Overview and Changpeng Zhao’s Holdings
BNB serves as the native token for the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, offering users discounts on trading fees. Currently, there are over 147 million BNB tokens in circulation out of a maximum supply capped at 200 million. The token’s value has more than doubled since the start of the year, reaching nearly $720 this week.
While Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has not publicly disclosed his exact holdings of BNB, the 2017 whitepaper from BNB’s initial coin offering (ICO) allocated 80 million tokens to the founding team. Analysis suggests that Binance still holds 46.2 million of these tokens.
Given CZ’s 90% ownership of Binance, his estimated share would be approximately 41.6 million tokens.
Binance BNB Ownership. Source: Forbes
Changpeng Zhao’s Increased BNB Holdings and Forbes Analysis
Further analysis reveals that Changpeng Zhao (CZ) augmented his BNB holdings through additional acquisitions. Initially, Binance’s ICO reportedly sold only 10.8 million BNB tokens out of the claimed 100 million due to undersubscription.
Approximately 58 million unsold BNB tokens from the ICO were purportedly transferred to Zhao’s wallets. With CZ’s 90% ownership stake in Binance, it is estimated that he controls around 52 million of these tokens.
Combining these holdings with the tokens allocated to the founding team, CZ’s total BNB holdings amount to approximately 94 million tokens. Forbes has concluded that Zhao’s significant ownership has propelled him to become the 24th richest person globally, with an estimated net worth of $61 billion.
Important: Please note that this article is only meant to provide information and should not be taken as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other type of advice.
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