Changpeng Zhao gained $9.76 billion in 24 hours, moving his estimated net worth to $91.2 billion. The jump, recorded on September 20, 2026, was tracked in Forbes' real-time billionaire monitor and reflects swings in the market value of his stake in Binance.
Forbes attributes the change to the value of Zhao's ownership in the exchange, and credits him with about a 90% stake based on his public statements and available filings. Bloomberg's billionaire index shows Zhao's fortune has climbed by $41.5 billion since the start of the year, an increase of 83.6%.
The underlying driver is Binance itself. The exchange lists trading markets for more than 350 cryptocurrencies and reported over 320 million registered accounts as of June 2026. Much of Zhao's wealth is not cash or salary but an estimated valuation of his controlling interest in the privately held company.
Valuation techniques help explain why numbers move so fast. Forbes derives Binance's transaction-fee revenue from trailing 12-month spot and derivatives volumes as tracked by CoinGecko, then applies estimates of average fees. Bloomberg estimates Binance produced about $5.4 billion in transaction-fee revenue, which it adjusts to an estimated total revenue of $10.7 billion using the average ratio of transaction-fee revenue to total revenue at public peers.
Those revenue estimates are then turned into an enterprise value using enterprise-value-to-sales multiples drawn from a peer set that includes Coinbase Global, Riot Platforms, Gemini Space Station, Circle Internet Group and Cboe Global Markets. A methodological change on June 3, when Bloomberg reduced the discount on Binance's valuation from 50% to 15% citing reduced regulatory and legal concerns, boosted Zhao's estimated net worth by about $36 billion.
Zhao's latest rise follows a turbulent period for the founder and his company. He served a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to failing to maintain adequate anti-money-laundering controls and was later granted a presidential pardon in October 2025. Voices within the crypto industry, including the co-founder of CryptoQuant, have urged respect and sympathy for Zhao, arguing he bore consequences for broader industry failings.
Zhao's wealth will continue to move with how markets, revenue estimates and discounting treat Binance, and with the exchange's trading volumes and fee income. Changes in valuation assumptions or shifts in the regulatory landscape are likely to produce large swings in his estimated fortune.
