Highlights From CZ’s July 5 AMA on Twitter Spaces
Main Takeaways
On July 5, 2023, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s CEO, spent an hour on Twitter Spaces answering a slew of user questions.
Some of the most intriguing questions were about blockchain’s utility, Binance’s past and future, and building in the current market.
Over the last six years, Binance has experienced high and lows, yet it continues to grow thanks to the strong team it has cultivated. Looking ahead, Binance is gearing up to handle higher volumes and continue being the leader in Web3 innovation and adoption.
What follows is a summary of CZ’s answers to some of the questions he received during a Twitter AMA on July 5, 2023. Please note that this transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
On Blockchain’s Current and Potential Utility
What are your future plans regarding the real-world utility of blockchain?
CZ: We have many teams working on different applications. Some of it has to do with sports, some with finance, and some with other things. It's a pretty wide topic. We're still in the early days. Use cases haven't yet achieved mass adoption.
If we think about notary services – anything that requires proof, anything that requires a transaction, anything that is global in nature – the adoption rate is still quite low. I don't think we have a whole lot of use cases that are truly showing mainstream adoption yet, but this also speaks to the potential opportunity.
I think these things will happen. We just haven't gotten there yet. We're still dealing with very basic features. Over time, though, I think we will get there.
On Builders in the Current Market
What would be your advice for builders in this current market?
CZ: I think everyone should research a small number of projects so they can explore them deeply. For the projects you like, follow them, support them, and teach other people about those projects. If possible, you could even join them, work for them, and be on the team. Any project that's good for crypto is good for the industry.
We are in an environment where the rising tide will lift all boats. I think anything you can do will be positive, and I would also encourage people to ignore the negatives. If you think a project's not good, don't waste your time talking about it. There's not much point in attacking them, unless they’re rug pulls or stuff like that. It's pretty simple: just be a positive force in the industry as much as you can. If you're a big player, you can have a big impact. If you're a smaller player, just contribute what you can.
On Binance’s Past
What are some of the highs and lows you’ve experienced while building Binance?
CZ: There's not one single moment that stands out, but over time we have learnt many different things. When we first started, for example, knowing that we had a few tens of thousands of people supporting us was a very strong motivator for us to continue building our platform.
Two months later, China banned bitcoin and shut down crypto exchanges operating within its borders. We had to move, and that was a pretty big deal. That cost us around 40% of our treasury at the time, which was one of our single biggest expenses. Nevertheless, we also received a lot of goodwill and grew much faster afterward.
Six months in, we became the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume. Around that period, the amount of incoming users was unbelievable. It was around 300K per day and even hit 240K per hour at one point. We had to throttle it because our system just couldn't keep up.
That was five years ago. There have been many different ups and downs, yet we continue to grow regardless. When I look back, it's more about the team we managed to grow. We were able to build a tight and effective crew, and I'm really proud of the team we have today. Regardless of the current pressures we’re dealing with, I strongly believe we're doing the right thing. We're helping push adoption for these new technologies, which we believe are beneficial to the entire population of the Earth.
On Upcoming Plans
Is there anything you can share regarding Binance’s plans for the upcoming months?
CZ: If we look at the historic patterns, I think we want our platforms to be prepared for higher volumes. Last November was probably the worst. If you look at BTC’s price, which can essentially serve as an industry index, it indicates how many new users we're getting, transaction volume, trading volume, etc. If you look at the long-term, we should ensure that our products and systems are ready for higher volumes. We're doing a lot of preparation on that front.
There are many initiatives we're still pushing, and we're doing many investments. Every week, our investment team has numerous projects asking me for the final approval. Our teams are doing many investments. I think we always want to prepare for the worst case, which is another prolonged bear market. I think we have the stamina to last. We also want to be prepared for the best case, which is more volume coming in.
On Future Goals
Where do you want to see Binance fit into the crypto ecosystem over the next few years?
CZ: I think centralized exchanges should only be a small part of the ecosystem. I would like to see the true DeFi aspects of the ecosystem grow more. I think we're seeing that happening now. We're seeing more innovative ways for people to hold their own private keys. The solutions are more innovative and make onboarding easier. I think we'll see more of these DeFi developments.
Binance has many different parts. We're happy to be part of the centralized exchange ecosystem. We'll continue to innovate and improve our services to continue raising the industry benchmark. We welcome competition, but we have to continuously raise the bar of our product and service quality.
On the DeFi side, we continue to make heavy investments. We do a lot more early-stage investments; we let the projects grow, and we want to help them in any way we can. We also have our own initiatives in different DeFi protocols.
Looking at everyday use cases – sports, arts, services, payments, etc. – we need to explore a lot more of those. Binance will continue to be a contributor to the ecosystem through various channels as much as we can.