CZ: The judgment has passed, and I am looking forward.
Author: CZ Blockchain in Layman's Terms
This article is CZ's first public statement after being released from prison in the US on October 31. He returned to Dubai and engaged in a dialogue during the BN Blockchain Week.
Austin: I'm Austin from Altcoin Daily. CZ, this is your first interview since you got out. How was your experience in prison? It must not have been very pleasant, right?
CZ: It was definitely not as interesting as it is now; the whole experience was very restrictive, freedom was taken away, and there wasn't much to do. However, it also gave me a lot of time to reflect. I learned many important lessons, such as what do you miss the most when everything is taken away? For me, what I missed the most was the connection between people. I missed my children, family, friends, colleagues, and community. I missed other things too, but not nearly as intensely as I missed people. You miss food and a comfortable bed, but those things didn't affect me much. This experience helped me refocus my priorities in life.
Austin: Do you think this is a fair judgment?
CZ: That's a very subjective question; different people will have different views. There is a plea agreement here, I agreed to some terms of the agreement and do not intend to make negative comments about it; I accepted the outcome.
As for the sentencing, I received four months in prison. The judge's job is tough, and perspectives can vary. Some people may think it's too lenient, while others may think it's too harsh. For the crime I committed—violating the Bank Secrecy Act—no one in US history has been sentenced for a single violation, and I am the first.
Just a few weeks ago, a bank was fined $1.8 billion for similar issues, but no one was prosecuted. Whether it's fair has become less important to me; the judge also mentioned many of my merits in court. Although I was sentenced, my term is indeed short compared to others. Most people in prison have sentences of five years, ten years, or even longer. So from this perspective, I consider myself lucky; the judgment has passed, and I am looking forward.
Austin: Did you make friends while you were inside?
CZ: Yes, you have to make friends; it can be very hard to survive if you're isolated. A few guards did recognize me and asked me what coins they should buy. I could only tell them that I had no internet access and no cryptocurrency news while I was in there.
I made a few friends, and we still keep in touch. Honestly, there are many good people in prison; many of them received long sentences for very minor offenses. Most of the companions I met were quite friendly, and although a few guards were somewhat indifferent, I did not suffer any physical harm. From this perspective, I consider myself very lucky.
Before going to prison, prison consultants (that's an industry) gave me a lot of advice. They warned me not to keep too much money in my account, suggesting I only keep fifty dollars. When I got in, I found that others had two hundred dollars in their accounts, which made me look like the 'poor one.' Overall, I didn't encounter many problems and even made some friends, and I'm now trying to help them reduce their sentences through legal means.
Additionally, there was a friend in prison named Michael, who was incarcerated for a marijuana possession case from forty years ago and served 27 years, while marijuana is now legal. He earned a college degree while in prison and read six books. There are indeed some very talented individuals, but it's hard to achieve that in such a difficult environment. Every time I got to use the computer for 15 minutes, I would be automatically logged off after that, and I couldn't paste anything, only input manually. So under those circumstances, if you wanted to adjust a piece of text, you had to rewrite it. In Michael's time, there weren't even computers. So while the conditions were tough, many people still worked hard to learn, read, and earn degrees; there are many good people there.
Austin: What is your current relationship with BN?
CZ: I have stepped down from the CEO position and no longer participate in the company's daily operations. My shareholder rights have not been affected, so I am still a major shareholder of Binance. I can still request some information but cannot make decisions or issue instructions. Overall, the relationship is still quite good; there is now a group of others working hard, and I have been 'forced into retirement.' The first month was a bit uncomfortable; it was emotionally hard to let go because I had invested a lot in this company over the last seven years.
But I have always believed that a CEO's term should not exceed ten years because the world is constantly changing. Now with AI, I didn't spend much time understanding it before, nor did I have time to delve into details like DeFi. So looking back, being forced to step down actually has many benefits. If I had resigned voluntarily, people might think I couldn't handle it, but now it’s forced, so no one complains.
Moreover, I now have more time, and I feel lucky. Although my reputation has changed, I still value my past achievements, which indicate no fraud and no loss of user funds. So in some respects, my reputation remains quite solid. Additionally, I am not young anymore, but I'm not too old either; I still have the energy to do more. Having the freedom and resources to do what I want now is indeed a great fortune.
Austin: I heard that you are permanently banned from managing any cryptocurrency trading platform. Is that true? Will you continue to invest in crypto projects?
CZ: Of course, first of all, according to my understanding, the words 'lifetime' and 'ban' do not appear in the agreement I made with the government. The agreement states that I step down as CEO and has no time limit. However, the agreement can be updated, and the government may change. But I have no plans to return as CEO; I think the team is doing well without me, and even if given the opportunity, I wouldn't want to go back. I believe the term 'permanent ban' is just media exaggeration; the actual agreement is public.
As for the second question, I will definitely continue to invest in crypto projects. Right now, I am mainly focused on two things: one is Giggle Academy, and the other is investing. My investments are primarily concentrated in three areas: blockchain, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology. I no longer want to lead projects myself; I prefer to help other entrepreneurs develop their companies and provide them with funding, advice, resources, and support. I have some very important mentors, and I hope to become a mentor to others as well.
Austin: Regarding the cryptocurrency outlook for 2025, do you still have a positive view for the coming year?
CZ: I will try not to give any financial advice, but history does not predict the future, and I cannot predict what will happen. However, I can analyze history. Historically, Bitcoin has gone through very clear four-year cycles. 2013 was a bull market, 2017 was a bull market, actually 2012 was a recovery year, which many people do not trace back that far. 2016 was a recovery year, and 2017 soared. 2020 was a recovery year, and 2021 was a bull market. This year has returned to previous highs.
So based on existing analysis, 2024 will be a recovery year; as for what will happen next year, I am not sure, but in the long run, I remain very optimistic about the entire industry. I think there is still a lot to be built, and as more people use cryptocurrencies, its utility value will increase. In the long run, I remain very optimistic.
Austin: What aspects of cryptocurrency do you find most promising? DeFi or meme coins?
CZ: I don’t intend to specify a particular area because predicting which will become the next hot spot is very difficult. For example, at the beginning of 2017, I might not have predicted that ICOs would become a hot topic, but by June the trend was very clear, so it depends on which projects explode in certain niche areas. This morning, I met some entrepreneurs who are combining AI with blockchain, generating some very interesting ideas. If one of those projects takes off, then that area will grow. It’s hard to predict, but I will continue to support other builders in the industry and see what happens.
Austin: Regarding legislation, how do you view the future direction of cryptocurrency regulation?
CZ: Current legislation is gradually improving; in some countries, like here, progress is very fast. In some large countries, due to many departments and personnel, progress may be slower. But overall, the trend is positive. For example, in mid-April, Elizabeth Warren announced a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, just a week before my sentencing. By June, Trump publicly supported cryptocurrencies, and by the end of June, both parties supported cryptocurrencies while I was still in prison. So this also shows that when people need cryptocurrencies, the government will respond. Therefore, I believe the overall direction is positive.
Austin: I live in the US, and from my perspective, cryptocurrency has already become an important election issue. Who do you think is more friendly to cryptocurrency, Harris or Trump?
CZ: Oh, I have no thoughts on that. I won’t comment on any election topics because I’ve dealt with US laws enough. I know there are election interference laws in the US, and anything I say in public can be taken out of context, so I don’t intend to touch on that topic, or even come close to that 'line'; I just want to keep my distance. I think it's great that both parties support cryptocurrency.
Austin: Okay, still from the perspective of the US, which policy or legislation do you think is the most important?
CZ: I think the most fundamental point is the classification of cryptocurrencies. There is a lot of controversy now; in most other countries, they view crypto assets as currency. Japan has recognized Bitcoin as a form of currency, and many other countries also regard Bitcoin as a crypto asset. Of course, crypto assets come in different types, depending on the specific kind. But in the US, this is indeed a significant point of debate, and I do not want to comment too much.
Austin: Assuming that a year from now, we meet on the stage of the 2025 BN Blockchain Week, not necessarily about prices, but where do you think Bitcoin or cryptocurrency will stand?
CZ: It is indeed very difficult to predict what will happen a year from now, but I think history may repeat itself, and our future will be in a relatively good position.
Austin: I really like this prediction. CZ, what are your plans next?
CZ: I am currently dedicating at least half of my time to the Giggle Academy project, which I find very interesting and impactful, even though it won’t be a highly profitable project.
Austin: Can you explain what Giggle Academy is to those who are not familiar?
CZ: It is a digital education platform specifically designed to serve those who cannot access educational opportunities. Currently, there are about 700 to 800 million adults globally who are illiterate, two-thirds of whom are women. Additionally, according to various reports, there are about 300 to 500 million children who do not have access to schooling. This means that approximately 1.2 to 1.3 billion people around the world cannot access education, primarily concentrated in very impoverished areas.
Many educational applications and projects operate in resource-rich areas, mostly as supplements to existing educational systems. I believe that now we have enough technological capability, combined with game developers, graphic designers, teachers, and AI, to create applications or tools that provide services to those in need of education without relying on teachers.
In those areas, the cost of teachers is high, and there is a shortage of teachers. If you want to send teachers there, it takes a long time. But now we can provide education in a digital way through a very interactive application, mainly on the Android platform, because Android devices are cheaper in those regions.
If we can help 100 million people gain education, I think that would be very meaningful to me, and I don't care about economic returns, plus I believe it won't require much funding.
Today, of the 8 billion people worldwide, about 1 billion are studying in schools, with an average class size of 30 or 50, and there are about 20 million teachers globally. But think about how many different ways there are to teach first-grade English? We repeat millions of similar teaching processes every day, and if we could turn those contents into applications, supported by AI, allowing it to interactively answer questions. Although the initial investment may be high, requiring several million dollars, once the AI engine is completed, the cost per course may be around one million dollars. Twelve grades, twelve courses, thirty subjects, totaling about 300 million dollars. Even with a significant buffer, it's only about 1 billion dollars. I believe we can create content that meets all today's educational needs, covering 500 languages.
The US government spends 100 billion dollars annually on education, while we only need less than 2% of that funding to provide education for those children without educational opportunities, and we can even do better than traditional face-to-face teaching. In a class of 30, the pace of teaching is limited by the slowest student; through a platform, we can dynamically adjust the course content, enabling students to advance rapidly in their strengths. After accumulating a lot of data, we can also help students quickly find jobs. For example, an 8-year-old child can do annotation work, which is also a nice source of income.
My nephew has been managing a flight simulation community with 14,000 gamers since he was 12, and a 16-year-old can do customer support work, like answering frequently asked questions. Kids aged 15 or 16 can be game testers or coders. So I want to get children into the workforce earlier, not just for a college or high school diploma.
We can help employers find suitable talents. For example, this child excels in math, ranking in the top 10%, and has completed many projects; other children have high emotional intelligence and volunteer to tutor younger children through the platform. This way, we can help children find jobs early, thereby assisting their families, siblings, and other family members in obtaining more educational opportunities.
Of course, digital education lacks interpersonal interaction, but it also has its advantages. My vision is to have older children tutor and interact with younger ones to make up for the lack of interpersonal interaction. For example, in physical education classes, online teaching is hard to achieve, but the platform can organize 15-year-olds to lead activities with 7-year-olds, and the 15-year-olds can earn points or credits for this. When employers come to recruit, such children will naturally be prioritized.
We can design many different interactive methods within the platform, but the current problem we need to solve is to enable AI to consistently generate stable video content. This task seems simple, but it is a challenge for AI. Currently, teachers can quickly create content, like PPT presentations, but these contents are usually designed for their own teaching.
However, in an environment without teachers, we need the platform or application to convey this content autonomously. In this case, to attract children's attention, we need very interactive videos, animations, and cute elements, which teachers usually cannot provide, and this is where AI can play a role. Right now, no AI model can generate ideal content. I have discussed this with many top AI experts, and we are working hard to solve this problem. However, this issue should be resolved in the coming months to years. Once we break through this challenge, we can deliver content digitally, hoping to benefit hundreds of millions or even billions of children and people around the world by providing them with free education.
Austin: In the future, will certain parts of Giggle Academy integrate with Web3 or blockchain? I think everyone here wants to know if there will be airdrop activities to participate in?
CZ: Not in the short term; I don't want to get involved in issuing new tokens or anything like that. So we may support existing tokens, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, etc.
We will build a reward mechanism to ensure the system operates well, but we may not need to issue our own token. For example, if I want to hire customer support or community forum administrators, I can sponsor some BNB to pay the kids with those funds.
Additionally, today I discovered another interesting thing, which is that AI companies are actually paying a lot of money to obtain human-generated data on the platform. If we get children and parents to agree to provide their data to AI companies for training, then the data generated by these children while learning pronunciation, math, etc., can be used to train AI, and parents may receive compensation ranging from 10 to 100 dollars. For our target users, this is a significant amount. This way, we can achieve a direct payment method of 'earn as you learn' without the need for tokens. AI companies will become sponsors of the platform, so we don’t necessarily need to issue tokens to implement this model.
Of course, in the long run, I hope to gradually integrate the economic model of Web3 into the platform. This is a platform that starts from the time children learn to speak and accompanies them until employment. Even when they are 70 or 80 years old, they can still continue learning. By then, when they find jobs, we can suggest (not force) them to consider donating a certain percentage of their income back to the platform over the next one to three years. Even if only a small number of people are willing to do this, I believe we can build a sustainable platform in the long run. However, this is a long-term plan and may take about ten years. But that's okay; I have plenty of time.
Original Title: After Prison, CZ Talks About Prison Life and Future: Education Takes Time, I Have Plenty of It Now
Original Link: https://www.theblockbeats.info/news/55584
Translation: Rhythm BlockBeats
Article Link: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/11/5506.html
Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/wk2pttJZ8TFKPUd5ytnFMQ
