Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao, who goes by CZ, is founder and CEO of Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that became the largest on the planet in just under 180 days. The 41-year-old Chinese-Canadian coder cut his teeth building high-frequency trading systems for Wall Street's flash boys. Binance can process a blazing 1.4 million transactions a second and on a peak day in early 2018 processed 3.5 billion new orders, cancels and trades. Binance is minting money, with $200 million in profits in the last quarter of 2017. CZ owns a large chunk of the company, making him a billionaire.