Crypto’s behemoth

To describe the world of cryptocurrency trading as being like the Wild West is probably doing the cowboy era something of a disservice, since even in its fruitiest moments there was always a chance that some rough and ready lawman might summon a posse to dish out a spot of summary justice. Regulators are finding the sector to be slipperier than a well-lubricated eel, and scams abound, such as the exploits of one ambitious 28-year-old who set up the exchange Thodex and promptly vanished into the back end of Albania last April with $2.6bn in his back pocket.

But the money keeps rolling in, and there are now about 16,000 cryptocurrencies in circulation with a combined “worth” of more than $2-trillion. Mentions of the South Sea Bubble or Dutch tulip mania do nothing to cool the ardour of the legions of small investors aiming to get rich quick from the comfort of their darkened basements, and sitting on top of all the excitement is Binance and its enigmatic CEO, Changpeng Zhao, or CZ to his mates.

Binance is estimated to be handling as much trade as the next four largest exchanges combined, and in a recent 24-hour period it completed $170bn of transactions. Bloomberg estimates

CZ’s net worth to be $96bn, though it admits that’s low because it excludes his personal holdings of crypto, but either way it’s not a bad effort given that he only set up the company in 2017. Regulators are going after the company in numerous jurisdictions, but with revenues at an estimated $20bn last year, it’s keeping its nose ahead.

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