After stepping down as CEO of Binance in 2023 and serving a short prison sentence for violating the federal Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in the United States, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao remains one of the most watched figures in crypto.
This feature is part of CoinDesk’s The list of most influential 2025.
His formal exit from the stock exchange he built did little to dampen his prominence. If anything, CZ’s influence only grew stronger in 2025 after he was granted a pardon by US President Donald Trump.
CZ wrote that he was “deeply grateful” for the pardon and “to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation and justice.”
In a comical twist, Trump later claimed he “didn’t know” who Zhao was before adding that he was a “victim of government guns.”
This subtle dig did not dampen Zhao’s prolific use of social media, where he continues to comment on industry trends and the future of global crypto adoption. He even did something a little out of character and publicly disclosed that he had a $1.8 million position in ASTER, the native token of a derivatives exchange hosted on the BNB Chain. His words carried weight and ASTER rose from $0.90 to $1.08 shortly after the tweet.
In 2025, CZ also took a “more active role” in investment activities within YZi Labs, Binance’s venture capital arm, formerly known as Binance Labs. Earlier this year, it was reported that YZi Labs managed about $10 billion in capital, including investments in more than 250 companies.
