The story of Zhao Changpeng and his journey to success is perhaps one of the most inspiring in the crypto world today. It’s almost unbelievable just how fast a man can turn misfortune into hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.
Zhao is the founder of Binance, a world-class cryptocurrency exchange and the world leader by market volume. Binance was founded in July 2017 and first headquartered in Hong Kong, and that’s the catch.
What’s hard to believe is the fact that this company achieved that level of popularity and success just after the Chinese government banned the use of cryptocurrencies within its borders. However, the government still supported and even sought to shore up blockchain-based product developments.
Right after the crack-down, Zhao moved his company’s HQ to Tokyo, Japan. Free from the grips of hostile Chinese industry regulators, Binance then entered other Asian markets like Taiwan and Singapore where the reception was friendlier.
While other Chinese exchanges struggled to keep their heads up in China, Binance was exploring other markets far and beyond the Asian continent. Within 6 months of moving out of China, and after extensive trips abroad inking deals and setting up shop, Binance recorded a cool $350 million in profits from transaction fees. The company already had a 10 million-strong customer base.
In fact, as Zhao said during an interview in Singapore in September, governments usually take the initiative to invite Binance to operate in their countries. In his opinion, Binance wouldn’t want to operate in regions where governments aren’t welcoming. That, perhaps, explains his statement that Binance doesn’t even have any of its staff stationed in China.
Currently, plans are underway for Binance to set up shop in 10 new markets in the coming few months to enable people to purchase digital assets using their local currencies. The new markets include Malta, Uganda, Jersey, Singapore, and Liechtenstein. In July, Binance acquired a 5% stake in Malta-based Founders Bank.
Last month, the company went a notch higher to partner with the Malta Stock Exchange to facilitate trading of security tokens in the country’s market. Malta has been known to be the most crypto-friendly country in the world, having been the first to institute clear regulatory policies for the industry.
During the interview, Zhao said that the crypto industry is still ripe for further growth by a thousand times, a statement that seems to contradict Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin who doesn’t see any further exponential growth for the industry.
