Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has publicly shut down recent estimates regarding his personal wealth, criticizing Forbes for publishing what he called a “guess a number” list.
Forbes has estimated that his net worth currently stands at a staggering $111 billion.
Given the massive 50% market drawdown that has battered the cryptocurrency sector in early 2026, CZ was quick to note that the estimate did not make sense.
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CZ has argued that it is mathematically impossible for his wealth to have climbed while the broader digital asset market collapsed. “Definitely not accurate. This is a ‘guess a number’ list, at least for me. Bitcoin/crypto is down 50% from ATH,” CZ replied.
Shortly after, CZ followed up with a second post. “Didn’t read the Forbes article, but if you just look at the little chart, you know it’s wrong. Crypto prices dropped by more than 50% in 2026 already. And my net worth went up? Wish they could apply some common sense and basic logic,” he said.
The vast majority of CZ’s estimated net worth comes from his dominant equity stake in Binance Holdings Ltd. CZ still owns an estimated 90% of the crypto behemoth.
According to some reports, CZ also controls roughly 64% of the circulating supply of BNB, which amounts to approximately 94 million tokens.
Other crypto billionaires
CZ is not the only crypto billionaire on the list. Tether’s Giancarlo Devasini ($89.3 billion,#22), Paolo Ardoino ($38 billion) and Jean-Louis van der Velde ($38 billion) are also among the world’s wealthiest people.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong ($9.7 billion) and Michael Saylor ($8.6 billion) also boast enormous fortunes despite the crypto market drawdown. Armstrong and Saylor’s fortunes are publicly marked-to-market every weekday.
Source: https://u.today/cz-dismisses-forbes-111-billion-net-worth-estimate
