Forbes\u2019 newly announced 2026 Billionaires list shows that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is now richer than tech mogul Bill Gates.<\/p>\n
CZ came in 17th place in the magazine\u2019s annual ranking of the richest people in the world, while Gates is placed not far from him at 19th.<\/p>\n
Released annually, the Forbes Billionaires List provides<\/a> a real-time snapshot of the wealth of the most prolific entrepreneurs, investors, heirs, and celebrities worldwide.\u00a0According to Forbes\u2019s website, as of March 11, 2026, the former Binance executive has a net worth of $111.1B, while Gates\u2019 is listed as $105.7B.<\/p>\n The data also suggests that CZ\u2019s wealth has been growing steadily over the past three years, thanks to his Binance-linked crypto holdings. But, on the other hand, the tech billionaire\u2019s riches have remained relatively stable and are tied to his Microsoft shares and philanthropic commitments.<\/p>\n Zhao has since responded to the piece, outlining on social media that the information shared is inaccurate.<\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t read the Forbes article, but if you just look at the little chart , you know it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n In his X post, CZ questioned<\/a> how the publication calculated the figures, pointing out that crypto prices had already fallen<\/a> by more than 50% in 2026, yet his reported net worth had increased.<\/p>\n Zhao also believes that Forbes\u2019 calculations are \u201cway off.\u201d He gave another example by comparing<\/a> ByteDance\u2019s $150 billion valuation to its former CEO\u2019s $69 billion net worth.\u00a0The Forbes official website notes that the 2026 ranking was based on calculations of stock prices and exchange rates as of March 1.<\/p>\n The publication also explained that it looks at the different assets a billionaire is believed to control to come up with a gauge of their wealth, including stakes in public companies, private businesses, real estate, art collections, and other investments.<\/p>\n In Zhao\u2019s case, most of his assumed wealth is believed<\/a> to originate from his ownership stake in Binance. Forbes\u2019 data shows that he still owns roughly 90% of the exchange. This represents a huge share of his fortune if the company\u2019s valuation is taken into account.<\/p>\n On top of that, he is also believed to hold a large amount of BNB tokens linked to the Binance ecosystem. CZ has shared<\/a> in the past that his crypto portfolio contains about 98.5% in BNB and only 1.3% in BTC. Despite this, the exact amounts remain undisclosed.<\/p>\n Gates\u2019 wealth, on the other hand, was calculated very differently. The outlet said that most of his fortune has historically been tied to his stake in Microsoft. Forbes, however, revealed<\/a> that his ownership in the firm has dropped to less than 1% after years of donations and asset diversification.<\/p>\n The tech mogul has given more than $59 billion to the trust that funds the Gates Foundation over the past couple of years. According to Forbes, this has reduced his overall net worth, and as a result, his placement on their list has also dropped.<\/p>\n The post Is Binance\u2019s CZ Really Richer than Bill Gates?<\/a> appeared first on CryptoPotato<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Forbes\u2019 newly announced 2026 Billionaires list shows that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is now richer than tech mogul Bill Gates. CZ came in 17th place in the magazine\u2019s annual ranking of the richest people in the world, while Gates is placed not far from him at 19th. CZ Outranks Gates in Forbes Billionaire List […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":141514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/141514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Forbes Breaks Down Its Wealth Estimates<\/h2>\n