Canada's richest man could give every single Canadian thousands and STILL be a billionaire

There's a new name at the top of Canada's billionaire list — and this one didn't make his fortune off oil, tech stocks or media empires.

Changpeng Zhao, better known in crypto circles as CZ, has officially been named the richest person in Canada by the 2025 edition of Maclean's Rich List, released last week.

Zhao's meteoric rise dethrones the Thomson family, who've held the top spot for years thanks to their stake in the Thomson Reuters media empire and a portfolio full of legacy wealth.

It's a big shift from the dynastic families that have long dominated Canada's billionaire list — clans like the Westons, the Irvings and the McCains, who built their fortunes over generations through grocery chains, oil and frozen foods.

CZ is the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and his net worth has skyrocketed to mind-boggling heights. Maclean's reports that Zhao's booming crypto empire pushed him into first place after his fortune ballooned by a jaw-dropping $30.3 billion from last year — enough to make even the old-money crowd clutch their pearls.

Specifically, it was the rising value of BNB — the token used on Binance, the exchange Zhao founded — that gave him the edge. BNB nearly doubled in value in 2025, helping boost Zhao's net worth to a shocking $91.3 billion, according to Maclean's.

Who is Changpeng Zhao?

Zhao's journey to becoming the richest person in Canada reads like something out of a movie.

He was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1977. His father was a professor, but the family fled the country in 1989, two months after the Tiananmen Square massacre.

According to Forbes, Zhao and his family waited in line outside the Canadian embassy for three days to get an expedited visa. "We had to take shifts at night to keep our position in the queue," Zhao recalled in an old blog post.

The family settled in Vancouver, where teenage Zhao worked various jobs to help cover household expenses — including flipping burgers at McDonald's and working overnight shifts at a gas station.

He eventually studied computer science at McGill University in Montreal, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree. After university, Zhao spent years developing software for trading systems for Wall Street before moving to Shanghai in 2005 to launch his business career.

Then came the big bet. In 2013, after a chat with a friend over a game of poker, Zhao decided to go all in on bitcoin. He sold his apartment and poured his life savings into crypto — a risky move that would eventually pay off in a massive way.

By 2017, he launched Binance. Today, it's the biggest crypto exchange on Earth — and Zhao owns roughly 90% of it, according to Maclean's.

From prison to pardon

Zhao's rise hasn't been without controversy. In 2023, he stepped down as CEO of Binance after pleading guilty in the U.S. to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. As part of a settlement, he paid a US$50 million fine and served four months in a low-security U.S. federal prison in California.

Despite the scandal, Zhao walked away from prison in September 2024 not just free, but still fabulously wealthy — and with a political power-up waiting on the other side.

With Donald Trump back in the White House and pitching the U.S. as the new crypto capital, Zhao launched a full-blown PR campaign for his public image. Binance had already partnered with the Trump family's crypto company, and in October, the president granted Zhao a presidential pardon.

CZ currently lives in Dubai with his long-time partner Yi He (who also co-founded Binance) and their children.

How much could he give away?

Zhao has publicly said that he plans to donate most of his billions. In a 2021 interview with the Associated Press, he said: "I do intend to give away 90, 95 or 99% of my wealth."

So we crunched the numbers.

As of the time of publishing, Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List estimates Zhao's net worth at US$78.8 billion — which is about CA$110.3 billion at today's exchange rate.

According to Statistics Canada's real-time population clock, there are currently an estimated 41.7 million people living in Canada.

That means if Zhao handed out his fortune equally, every single Canadian — from newborns to nans — would score about $2,642 each. Do it by family, and you're looking at a cool $6,546 per Canadian household.

But let's say Zhao went with the low end of his pledge and gave away just 90% of his fortune. He'd still have about $11 billion left — enough to keep him comfortably in the number-13 spot among the richest Canadians.

Even then, that wouldn't change much — the remaining 90% of his wealth spread across the country would still work out to around $2,378 per person.

(Of course, when Zhao talks about donating most of his wealth, he probably doesn't mean cutting every Canadian a cheque — but hey, who are we to make that call?)

Still, on a global scale, even with all that money, Zhao doesn't crack the top 20 richest people in the world. He's currently ranked #22 on Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires list — and Elon Musk alone is worth nearly six times as much.

In fact, the 21 billionaires ahead of him have a combined net worth of around US$3.5 trillion, which is more than Canada's entire GDP.

It's hard to imagine someone giving away that kind of money — but Zhao has said he's inspired by philanthropists like John D. Rockefeller, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, billionaires who have (or have pledged to) donate most of their fortunes.

For now, Canada's richest man is holding tight to the top spot. But if Zhao really does follow through on his pledge, he could go down as not just the richest, but the most wildly generous billionaire in Canadian history — even if it's not going straight into our bank accounts.

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Ranking results and exchange rate are based on data collected on November 18, 2025, and are subject to change.