Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao

Changpeng Zhao

Founder and Former CEO of Binance

Changpeng Zhao built Binance into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. His reading list reflects interests in scaling, organizational dynamics, and strategic thinking.

CEOs

Changpeng Zhao founded Binance in 2017, growing it into a global cryptocurrency powerhouse serving millions of users. As CEO, he navigated rapid scaling, regulatory challenges, and organizational leadership across decentralized finance. His recommended reads span business strategy, organizational culture, and antifragile systems.

30 Books Recommended by Changpeng Zhao

Ranked by popularity across all reading lists on this site

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#2

Give and Take

by Adam Grant

15 people recommended

Good read. Givers, fake givers, matchers and takers. Why givers win.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Arianna Huffington, Ashton Kutcher, Chip Conley, Daniel Pink, David Heinemeier Hansson, Gretchen Rubin, Krista Tippett, Marcus Lemonis, Michael Mauboussin, Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, Susan Cain, Tony Hsieh, Derek Sivers

Antifragile book cover
#3

Antifragile

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

11 people recommended

We definitely want Binance to be antifragile. This book may explain why we make some of the decisions we make.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Naval Ravikant, Ev Williams, Tobi Lutke, Vinod Khosla, Vlad Tenev, James Altucher, Patrick Oshaughnessy, Shane Parrish, Tom Bilyeu, Derek Sivers

Skin in the Game book cover
#4

Skin in the Game

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

11 people recommended

I see this book as a complement to 'Economics in One Lesson.' And it's an excellent read on its own.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Ankur Warikoo, Naval Ravikant, Marc Andreessen, Vinod Khosla, Ben Horowitz, Chris Dixon, Keith Rabois, Peter Mallouk, Ryan Shea, Derek Sivers

Crossing the Chasm book cover
#5

Crossing the Chasm

by Geoffrey A. Moore

10 people recommended

Has helped me hone my message with regard to talking about Binance to the world.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Drew Houston, Ev Williams, Ron Conway, Aaron Levie, Andrew Ng, Bill Gurley, Chris Dixon, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin

Blitzscaling book cover
#6

Blitzscaling

by Reid Hoffman

8 people recommended

Has been very helpful to Binance as we chart our growth as an organization.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Bill Gates, Brian Chesky, Eric Schmidt, Sam Altman, Sheryl Sandberg, Vinod Khosla, Anthony Pompliano

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#7

The Changing World Order

by Ray Dalio

8 people recommended

Goes into a lot of details about how money works (or doesn't).

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Mark Cuban, Brian Armstrong, Jamie Dimon, Arianna Huffington, David Friedberg, Lex Fridman, Mark Manson

Economics in One Lesson book cover
#8

Economics in One Lesson

by Henry Hazlitt

7 people recommended

There are few books that better encapsulate the inner workings of economics than this one.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Naval Ravikant, Ben Shapiro, Mark Spitznagel, Peter Schiff, Rand Paul, Ryan Petersen

Made to Stick book cover
#9

Made to Stick

by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

7 people recommended

Informs a lot of our public outreach in terms of making our services more essential for our users.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Robert Cialdini, Brian Armstrong, Ev Williams, Andrew Wilkinson, Sahil Lavingia, Derek Sivers

Range book cover
#10

Range

by David J. Epstein

7 people recommended

[About] how many great inventions happen at the intersection of disciplines.

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Also recommended by: Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, Daniel Pink, Keith Rabois, Michael Mauboussin, Ryan Holiday

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#11

Alchemy

by Rory Sutherland

6 people recommended

Addresses some of the counterintuitive points in life and business in a very interesting way.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Ankur Warikoo, Eric Jorgenson, Matt Ridley, Nassim Taleb, Ryan Petersen

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#12

The Culture Code

by Daniel Coyle

5 people recommended

At Binance, we constantly strive to build a great culture, and we constantly draw lessons from this book’s case studies of admirable organizations.

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Also recommended by: Bryan Callen, Graham Duncan, Tony Robbins, Derek Sivers

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#13

Loonshots

by Safi Bahcall

5 people recommended

After reading this book, you will understand why we tolerate failures at Binance, and more importantly, what types of failures we tolerate or not.

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Also recommended by: Brian Armstrong, Vinod Khosla, Daniel Kahneman, Keith Rabois

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#14

The Law

by FrΓ©dΓ©ric Bastiat

4 people recommended

This short (only 60+ pages) but timeless [book] is pretty advanced for its time, and it aligns with a lot of my personal philosophy.

Buy on Amazon β†’

Also recommended by: Charles Koch, Patrick Bet David, Ron Paul

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#15

Super Pumped

by Mike Isaac

3 people recommended

Regardless of how you view Uber, this book is a great read.

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Also recommended by: Alexis Ohanian, Kara Swisher

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#16

Team of Teams

by Stanley McChrystal

3 people recommended

I believe every modern organization should be run under these principles.

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Also recommended by: Doug Mcmillon, M Sanjayan

Work Rules! book cover
#17

Work Rules!

by Laszlo Bock

3 people recommended

Talks about work-related insights derived from the author’s time at Google.

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Also recommended by: John Doerr, Michael Mauboussin

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#18

The Advantage

by Patrick Lencioni

2 people recommended

The competitive advantage of successful companies lies more on how healthy and well a company’s organization behaves and operates.

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Also recommended by: Graham Duncan

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#19

The Starfish and the Spider

by Ori Brafman

2 people recommended

Talks about operations in decentralized organizations, especially compared to centralized ones.

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Also recommended by: Ev Williams

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#20

The Coaching Habit

by Michael Bungay Stanier

If you are leading a team or mentoring someone, you should read this book.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#21

Contagious

by Jonah Berger

A must-read for all product designers and marketers, and a lot of people in our team have taken the lessons in this book to heart.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#22

The DevOps Handbook

by Gene Kim

A must-read for tech teams.

Buy on Amazon β†’
πŸ“–
#23

Exponential Organizations

by Salim Ismail

An excellent book on organizations, and I found this book more relevant the more we grow our team.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#24

Fallen Dragon

by Peter F. Hamilton

Every once in a while, I enjoy science fiction novels like this one.

Buy on Amazon β†’
πŸ“–
#25

Hug Your Haters

by Jay Baer

A must-read for marketing and customer service teams.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#26

The Infinite Game

by Simon Sinek

Gives a perspective on long term vision. It will broaden your horizons and views.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#27

Platform Revolution

by Geoffrey G. Parker

A great book about platforms, how to build them, and why they are important and impactful.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#28

Sell with a Story

by Paul Smith

Learn how powerful storytelling is if you want to be a better salesperson, marketer, and communicator.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#29

Team Topologies

by Matthew Skelton

A must-read for team players, team leaders, and aspiring leaders.

Buy on Amazon β†’
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#30

Warren Buffett

by Robert G. Hagstrom

It’s clear no one knew how to value stocks a few decades ago, maybe even today.

Buy on Amazon β†’