Binance launched in July 2017, founded by Changpeng Zhao (CZ), a Chinese-Canadian developer who had previously worked at OKCoin and built trading software for Bloomberg. Within six months of launch, Binance had become the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume — a rise so rapid it remains unmatched in the history of financial marketplaces. The key was timing (launching during the 2017 ICO boom), low fees, aggressive listing of new tokens, and a BNB token that gave fee discounts.
CZ built Binance as a deliberately borderless company with no official headquarters. Employees worked remotely across dozens of countries. This structure made Binance nearly impossible for any single regulator to control, which was arguably the point. While competitors like Coinbase spent heavily on compliance, Binance moved fast and dealt with regulators later — a strategy that generated enormous growth and eventually enormous legal problems.
At its peak, Binance handled over 60% of global spot crypto trading volume and an even larger share of derivatives. The BNB token, originally an exchange discount token, evolved into the native asset of the BNB Chain ecosystem, reaching a market cap exceeding $90 billion. CZ became one of the wealthiest people in the world, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $33 billion in 2022.
The $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities in November 2023 marked the end of the “move fast, regulate later” era. CZ stepped down, served four months in prison, and was replaced as CEO by Richard Teng, a former Abu Dhabi regulator. Binance survived — its dominance in non-US markets continued — but the era of crypto’s largest exchange operating outside the law was definitively over. CZ’s story is the most extreme version of crypto’s central tension: the same disregard for rules that enables explosive innovation eventually meets the reality of state power.
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