I check myself its write in there
One morning in June, the cryptocurrency mogul Changpeng Zhao pulled up to the St. Regis resort in Abu Dhabi in a white Nissan S.U.V. Mr. Zhao is the richest man in crypto, worth an estimated $114 billion, and he lives in a villa nearby, with nine bedrooms, four bodyguards, a chef and a yacht named Da Moon. But he also likes to play the part of a “normal dude,” as he often describes himself, and that day he had offered to give me a personal tour of the city. Outside the St. Regis, Mr. Zhao sat at the wheel of the Nissan, with his iPhone mounted on the windshield, like the world’s wealthiest Uber driver. “My Lamborghini,” he joked as I climbed in.

Mr. Zhao, to be clear, isn’t a normal dude. Not long ago, the U.S. authorities brought a criminal case against him for his management of Binance, a crypto exchange depicted in court papers as a haven for Russian money launderers, Iranian sanctions evaders and Islamic State terrorists. Mr. Zhao pleaded guilty and escaped with his fortune intact. After serving a four-month prison sentence, he returned to Abu Dhabi, still Binance’s majority shareholder and still the most powerful figure in the industry.

These days, Mr. Zhao, who is 49, moves through the world like a head of state, flying around Asia on his private jet to advise governments on crypto regulation; a stop in Islamabad or Manila is often followed by the announcement of a new regulatory breakthrough for Binance. At home, one of his two dogs is a Taigan, an elegant Central Asian breed, likened to the gazelle. It was a gift from the crypto-curious president of Kyrgyzstan, with whom he went skiing in February. “He actually wanted to give me a tent, like a full-sized tent,” Mr. Zhao said. “I said no to the tent, and then he insisted on the dog.”

Mr. Zhao’s most influential allies are a pair of powerful ruling families. One is the clan that runs the United Arab Emirates, which wants his help creating a technology powerhouse in the desert. The other is the Trumps. Last year, Binance forged a business relationship with World Liberty Financial, the crypto start-up founded by President Trump and his three sons. World Liberty generated $799 million for Mr. Trump last year — his single most lucrative asset, more remunerative than his real estate portfolio or his social media business. Mr. Trump pardoned Mr. Zhao last October, a move widely criticized as a quid pro quo.

Known in the industry as “CZ,” Mr. Zhao often avoids reporters, but he met with me several times this year, eager to put a friendlier gloss on his career at Binance, which still hasn’t stanched the flow of dirty money. He is tall and thin, with short dark hair and a Binance tattoo on his forearm, and lacks the frat-bro swagger of many of his crypto peers. He comes across as polite and attentive, though his interests are almost comically narrow. This year, he self-published a memoir, “Freedom of Money,” in which he describes receiving an after-hours tour of the Louvre. The experience left him cold. The guide might as well have been “playing piano to a cow,” he wrote.

For years, his true calling has been what academics term “jurisdictional arbitrage” — moving from country to country in search of a legal framework pliable enough to accommodate his appetite for risk and growth. In Abu Dhabi, he may have found an ideal base of operations. As we drove into the city, Mr. Zhao chatted amiably, pausing to ask his bodyguard for help with directions. (“Yes, boss, stay right.”) We passed a string of impressive compounds and drove toward the presidential palace, Qasr Al Watan, whose striking white dome resembles the Taj Mahal.

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