Binance CEO: Crypto Is ‘The Only Stable Thing’ Amid Financial Turmoil
by Arthur · November 1, 2022
Despite a crypto crash that has seen Bitcoin falling over 70% from $69,000 to today’s value of around $20,000, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao argued that cryptocurrency is “probably the only stable thing in this very dynamic environment.”
Speaking on stage at Web Summit in Lisbon, Zhao argued that while crypto prices are volatile, “if you look at the technology, if you look at the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies, limited supply, nothing has changed.”
He added that “It’s been the most stable thing, technology-wise, in this turmoil.”
Zhao also discussed the current state of crypto regulation in the wake of Binance’s push to secure licenses in countries including France, Spain, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. CZ described regulators in these territories as “smart,” adding that “Actually, the US regulators are pretty good,” pointing out the level of banking support for crypto exchanges in the country.
Using the automated clearinghouse protocol, he said, crypto exchanges in the United States “can withdraw money from the user’s bank account automatically every month without user intervention. In other parts of the world, we don’t get that level of bank support yet.”
However, he admitted that US regulators are “more restrictive on product offerings like derivatives,” adding that “very few people have licenses.”
Binance’s investment in Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase
As for Binance’s $500 million investment in Elon Musk’s takeover of social media Twitter, Zhao claimed it was done in the name of free speech.
“We want to be extremely supportive of freedom of speech,” he said, adding that Binance’s goal is “to help increase freedom of money. And freedom of speech comes before freedom of money.”
He admitted that “Elon Musk is probably a pretty hard guy for me to predict,” noting that he learned of Musk’s plan to introduce an $8 monthly fee for Twitter verification, “at the same time you did , which is only 20 minutes ago.”
“I fully expect that with Elon in charge, the speed of new features being rolled out will be much, much faster,” Zhao added, while cautioning that “Not everyone will stick around.”
“I would actually say most of them won’t stick,” he said. “But that’s how you figure out the rest of the 10% of features that will stick; by defining lots of new features.”
On the subject of the long-awaited integration of Dogecoin onto the platform is one of the features that will stick – or whether it will reach the stage of being thrown into the wall in the first place – CZ was silent.
