According to The New York Times, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng recalled that one day earlier this year, he was lying in bed handling work—often working while lying down due to his long-term struggle with chronic pain—when suddenly the windows began to shake. He got up and went to the balcony, where he saw a trail of smoke in the sky. Zhao lives on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, an area that faces Iran across the Persian Gulf, and not long before, Iran had launched a missile towards the UAE. This attack marked the beginning of a geopolitical crisis that plunged the entire region into turmoil, but Zhao did not worry excessively. He returned to bed to continue working. "More people die in traffic accidents than from missiles," he later stated, "The security here is very good."