Richest Canadian's fortune surges by $30B in past year amid prison stint, Trump pardon
The richest person in Canada keeps getting richer even after several tumultuous years involving prison time and a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Maclean’s released its annual list of the richest Canadians on Monday, revealing that big tech and crypto have overtaken old money in the ranking.
Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, jumped to the top of the list this year, with a net worth of a whopping $91.3 billion. That’s a $30.28-billion increase in his fortune from last year’s rich list, when he was in second place.
According to Maclean’s, Zhao is Canada’s richest person this year, thanks to the strength of his cryptocurrency coin Build and Build (BNB), which is used to trade, pay fees, and access perks on Binance.
Born in Jiangsu, China, Zhao (also known as CZ) moved with his family to Vancouver in the late 1980s after his dad got a job at the University of British Columbia. According to Bloomberg, he completed a computer science degree at McGill University in Montreal, and his interest in cryptocurrency was sparked after a discussion at a poker game in 2013. Zhao founded Binance in 2017, and by 2018, it was the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
Zhao took the number one spot on Maclean’s ranking from the Thomson family, who sit in second place this year with a net worth of $90.2 billion.
He was able to do this despite the past few years filled with scandal.
In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to implement anti-money laundering controls at Binance. He spent four months in prison and was released from custody on Sept. 27, 2024. Not only has he resigned as CEO, but Binance was fined US$4.3 billion.
CNNÂ reported that U.S. authorities alleged that Binance enabled transactions for child sex abuse, narcotics, and terrorist financing.
In October of this year, the multi-billionaire was pardoned by Trump.
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“I don’t believe I’ve ever met him, but he had a lot of support — a lot of support. And they said that what he did is not even a crime,” stated Trump.
In response, Zhao shared a message on X stating that he was “deeply grateful” to Trump for “upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.”
“Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide. Onwards,” he wrote.
Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.
(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025
Maclean’s 2025 richest Canadians list also includes the former president of Loblaw, Galen Weston Jr. He sits in the third spot with a net worth of $20.6 billion.
Following closely behind in fourth place is Shopify CEO Tobias LĂĽtke, with a net worth of $19.1 billion. Rounding out the top five richest Canadians is Joseph Tsai, who holds a 1.4 per cent stake in e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Check out the full list of billionaires.