CZ's Net Worth Doubles While He Serves Prison Time

It was clear at the time of his sentencing in April that Changpeng Zhao's four-month prison sentence was a slap on the wrist and that he would emerge with most of his fortune intact.

Changpeng Zhao’s net worth has doubled to an estimated $61 billion while serving a four-month prison sentence for violating U.S. anti-money-laundering law.

Zhao, known as CZ, pleaded guilty in April to a single count of failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program at his cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. He agreed to pay a $50 million fine and serve four months in prison, a sentence that was widely seen as lenient.

CZ’s net worth was estimated at $33 billion by Forbes at the time of his sentencing, based on his 90% stake in Binance, which was valued at $40 billion. However, Forbes’ research found that CZ’s stake in BNB BNB , the cryptocurrency owned by Binance, is 94 million tokens, or 64% of the 147.5 million in circulation.

BNB has surged this year, nearly doubling to $596. The BNB credited to CZ by dint of his 90% ownership of Binance comes in two chunks: almost 42 million that was part of 80 million granted to the founding team in 2017 and more than 52 million that was left with the exchange as a result of a 100 million-token initial coin offering that attracted purchases of fewer than 11 million tokens.

CZ’s BNB stake is worth $56 billion on paper, but if that supply were to be dumped on the market all at once, it would almost certainly depress the price. Valuing the tokens at half the market price makes them worth $28 billion, which, when added to the $33 billion valuation for CZ’s equity stake in the Binance exchange itself, puts his estimated wealth at about $61 billion.

That would jump him to 24th place on the Forbes billionaires list from 50th. He may move higher still. In the six months since CZ pleaded guilty, Binance has gained market share among crypto exchanges. The valuation of CZ’s 90% stake remains unchanged and would likely increase if the company’s results improve.