Main Takeaways

On May 31, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s CEO, spent an hour on Twitter Spaces answering questions from the audience. Here’s a summary of his responses.

CZ discussed Dubai's emerging role as a global hub for crypto innovation, and noted the impressive growth of Binance's presence in the city.

He also provided insights into some of the initiatives Binance is working on, such as potential support for the Lightning Network.

Crypto newcomers should be extremely cautious when taking advice from social media — always do your own research and understand the context of any investment.

What follows is a summary of CZ’s answers to some of the questions he received during a Twitter AMA on May 31, 2023. Please note that this transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

CZ’s Daily Routine

What’s your daily routine? When do you usually start the day, and what do you do to stay productive?

CZ: I don’t really have a routine. Every day is a little bit different.

I’m in Dubai a lot. Here, I settle into a routine where I am a late sleeper, late riser. I sleep around 02:00 and then wake up around 08:00 or 09:00. I have a personal trainer come in some days, mainly to build muscles and fix my back problems. Other than that, the morning is usually spent on calls. Then I have lunch, take a nap. Afterward, there are more calls.

Waking up at 08:00 or 09:00 is helpful for coordinating with the teams in Asia. I wake up to a large number of messages and will have to make calls while responding to messages at the same time. The teams will often see me on one call, but then I’m responding to messages in a different group. I do that a lot, but I’m pretty public about it. 

Later in the afternoon, or early evening, Europe, the US, and Latin America wake up, but things usually quiet down around 20:00 to 21:00. That’s when I consider what to do with my free time. Usually, I end up staying home and listening to an audiobook. I listen at 2x or even 2.5x speed. That’s why I talk fast, too. 

I often listen while playing very simple games. I’ll play silly games that require no concentration, but they allow me to listen to the book. If I don’t play these games, it’s actually harder to concentrate sometimes. I end up listening to books for around an hour or two – some days even longer. Doing this, I can easily finish one, two, or even three books a week.

Binance in Dubai

Do you think Dubai will become a hub for crypto innovation? Will Binance be increasing its presence there?

CZ: Oh, absolutely, yes. I think Dubai is already a crypto hub. When I first got to Dubai over a year ago, only a handful of crypto companies existed. Today there are probably a couple of thousand. On top of that, thousands of businesses are in the application process for registration, licensing, etc.

Dubai’s a great place. There’s a crypto event almost every night – dinners, seminars, etc. I’m invited to multiple events every night, though I usually don’t go. Still, a lot is happening here. Dubai is a very international city overall, with many things to do.

About a year and a half ago, I came by myself. There were only a few Binance employees based in Dubai. When I met them in person for the first time, they told me, “CZ, you’re the third person I’ve met offline at Binance after working for two and a half years for the company.” 

Now, Binance has more than 700 employees in Dubai alone. We’re growing at a rapid pace. The local economy is also booming due to its business-friendly practices. Dubai’s GDP grew considerably last year. That’s quite significant for post-pandemic times. Dubai is a fantastic place. I think it’s already a crypto innovation hub that will continue to grow.

Crypto Social Media

Should crypto newcomers look to social media for advice?

CZ: As a newcomer, do not listen to social media advisers – people on YouTube, Twitter, etc. You can look into them, but you don’t have to do what they say. Always take their advice with a grain of salt – a huge grain of salt. Not necessarily because their advice is wrong, but because everybody’s situation is different. 

If someone says, “Buy this coin,” you don’t know their personal background or how invested they are in the project’s success. Personal factors affect whether you should invest and how much. Never just listen to someone on the internet because they’re famous. Do your own research on these projects, understand them, and then look at your personal situation. 

The short answer is no, definitely don’t just listen blindly. There is a lot more thought that needs to go into understanding investments, risk management, etc.

Mining

How is Binance involved in the mining space?

CZ: We actually don’t do any mining. It’s one of the few spaces or sectors in the industry that Binance is not involved with, and we don’t plan to be. Mining is a very different type of business with different aspects to consider. It involves hardware, which is something we’re not very familiar with. I think many other players have more of an advantage than us. Mining just isn’t our strong point.

Binance does operate one of the largest mining pools, which is very different from a mining farm. We aim for a model that prioritizes low fees. We’re happy that miners use our pool and have Binance’s liquidity to help cover their operational costs. We provide miners with an integrated service but don’t do the mining itself. I believe mining is very important, and there are many misconceptions about it, but it isn’t our core expertise.

The Lightning Network

When will Binance implement the Lightning Network on its exchanges?

CZ: We use a secure wallet infrastructure where addresses are pre-generated in a separate protected environment, and public keys are then exported to the production environment, which is different from the wallet environment.

It’s not possible to pre-generate addresses with the Lightning Network. To implement it, we would have to do something very different security-wise. We’re working on it, but it’s not as simple as installing and using a wallet. There are many security considerations behind the scenes. Nevertheless, the team is intimately familiar with the Lightning Network, so they are working on various solutions.

We may enable Lightning Network transactions for small amounts first. I don’t have a particular date, but the team has looked into it in a lot of detail. Eventually, I think every exchange will have to support the Lighting Network. The earlier we can do it, the better. Then users can enjoy its benefits, like saved costs with faster transactions. It would be a helpful innovation for the future, especially for Binance Pay and different wallet services.

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