Entries marked "verification needed" rest only on secondary sources or on pages not yet opened in full.
- 1977 — Born in Ganyu, Jiangsu, China. [1] See Changpeng Zhao.
- Late 1989 — Emigrates with his family to Canada and settles in Vancouver. [1]
- 2005 — Moves to Shanghai and founds Fusion Systems. [1]
- 2013–2014 — Becomes involved with Bitcoin; joins Blockchain.info and briefly serves as OKCoin CTO. [1]
- 2017-07 — Binance is founded; ICO raises about US$15 million; BNB is issued. [2][1]
- 2022 — Reportedly commits about US$500 million through Binance to Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter (relayed from Business Insider). [1] [verification needed]
- 2023-03-27 — The U.S. CFTC sues Binance and Zhao (civil). [1]
- 2023-06-05 — The U.S. SEC sues Binance and Zhao (civil); see SEC v. Binance. [1]
- 2023-11-21 — Binance and Zhao plead guilty; Zhao resigns and Richard Teng succeeds him; see United States v. Zhao. [3][4]
- 2024-04-30 — Sentenced to four months in prison in Seattle. [5][6]
- 2024-09-27 — Completes his sentence and is released. [7]
- 2025-01-23 — Binance Labs is renamed YZi Labs; Zhao takes part in mentoring founders. [8][9]
- 2025-05-29 — The SEC drops its civil case against Binance and Zhao (reported as with prejudice). [10][11]
- 2025-10-21 / 10-23 — President Trump signs (10-21) and the pardon is published (10-23): a full and unconditional pardon; see Pardon of Changpeng Zhao. [12][13]
- 2026-04-08 — Memoir Freedom of Money is published (English and Traditional Chinese); he says all royalties go to Giggle Academy. [14][15][1]
- 2026-06 — Interviewed by CoinDesk; says he does not intend to return as Binance CEO. [16][17]
- 2026-06 — A collective action against Binance and Zhao appears in the High Court of England and Wales (reportedly about 1,700 claimants, rising to about 2,700 in September, claiming more than £250 million) — allegations only; see Legal affairs of Changpeng Zhao. [1][2] [verification needed]
- 2026-10-09 — Giggle Academy announces 2 million learners in 193 countries and regions. [18]
- 2026-10-26 — Attends the Nasdaq bell ceremony for BNB Standard. [19][20]