In a Twitter Spaces session on May 1, 2023, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that crypto doesn’t require banks to struggle in order to succeed. He emphasized the importance of making crypto more user-friendly and expanding its use cases to boost adoption.
Additionally, Zhao mentioned that Binance will most likely list a coin if it is popular among traders and users, and that NFTs have significant potential but it’s still early for their development.
On Banking Versus Bitcoin
Q: Another American bank collapsed recently First Republic. What do you think the current state of the US banking system means for Bitcoin and crypto?
A: According to CZ, the success or failure of banks is not strongly related to crypto’s success. People store money in banks, but when they can’t do so, they may consider other alternatives, including crypto. Crypto has unique characteristics, such as being easy to transact and very global, but it is still highly volatile and new. The crypto community should focus on making it easier to use and increasing its utility and adoption rather than relying on the failure of others. CZ believes that crypto can coexist with banks and traditional fiat currencies, and the more successful the banks are, the better it is for everyone.
On Francophone Countries
Q: What is the plan for Binance in French-speaking countries?
A: CZ said that Binance is a global platform that expands in many countries irrespective of language. They have a big presence in France and have local teams in many African countries. CZ, Binance’s CEO, visited the most French-speaking countries among all the crypto founders. He is trying to relearn French using an app on his phone. He tweets more in English, but he apologized, saying there’s nothing particular about any language or region, and crypto doesn’t care about language or country.
On Identity Verification
Q: Can you talk about your KYC processes and potential problems with those processes?
A: CZ believes that ID verification is crucial for Binance’s security and compliance systems, and they lead by example by enforcing global KYC processes. However, KYC can sometimes negatively impact the user experience, and they are working on improving localization and user experience while remaining compliant. It is a challenging project that they are dedicating a lot of time to.
On Regulation
Q: What are some of the challenges that you’ve encountered when trying to comply with regulations in different parts of the world? What would make your life easier?
A: CZ believes that the biggest challenge for Binance is banking support, as it can facilitate the flow between traditional financial systems and crypto financial systems. The company spends more effort in pro-crypto countries and has a policy team that comments on different regulatory frameworks. The aim is to participate in the process and improve regulatory frameworks. Binance faces many little challenges, and the industry being new adds to the difficulty. The company intends to keep building products that people use and work closely with governments and regulators worldwide.
On Meme Coins and Token Listings
Q: How popular does a meme coin have to become before Binance lists it?
A: CZ could not comment on specific listings or projects due to strict policies. He discusses meme coins and how Binance evaluates them based on user activity, but he personally doesn’t understand them and deliberately stays uninvolved in the listing process to avoid association with it. Binance has an independent team that evaluates listings and has listed SHIB, which has a high trading volume on the platform. The main criterion for listing coins is user activity.
But I’ll comment on meme coins in general. I personally never really understood meme coins. There are many successful people who do seem to understand them, including Elon Musk, and others, so we go by users. If a coin has a lot of users trading it, wanting it, playing with it, etc., then we’ll most likely list it. If the coin only lasts for two weeks, then we probably won’t. But if it holds, then we probably will. So we view coins from a user perspective.
On meme coins, I don’t really understand them, but I’m deliberately not involved in Binance’s listing process. I don’t have the time. And I don’t want to get involved. I don’t want to be pushing any coin for listings because I don’t want to be associated with that process.
CZ on Memecoins & Token Listing
On Introducing the Next Generation to Crypto
Q: When do you think kids should get involved in crypto?
A: CZ believes that it’s important for kids to learn about finance, including crypto, as it will become more native to them in the future. He thinks that it’s crucial for the younger generation to learn financial concepts early on and believes that the future is about entrepreneurship, innovation, and global commerce. He believes that Binance Academy needs to do a better job in this area.
On NFTs
Q: There are a lot of prominent NFTs, but most of them are on the Ethereum blockchain. Some projects have been bridging their NFTs to Binance. Are you exploring this?
A: CZ explains that the BNB Chain ecosystem was designed with the goal of high capacity and low fees, not specifically with NFTs in mind. As a result, most NFTs are still on Ethereum, but there are initiatives to attract more NFT projects to BNB Chain. Although he personally has never bought an NFT, he believes in the technology’s potential. He sees himself as a builder who creates platforms for others to use.
Full Binance AMA recording can be found here.
Follow CoinWire on Google News
