While everyone was asleep, the industry’s much-coveted CZ was released from U.S. regulators.
Although he declined to be interviewed, a Binance spokesperson told the media: "We are happy that CZ will be returning home with his family. Although he does not manage or operate Binance, we are excited to see what he will do next."
At this point, CZ ended his four-month prison life, and his next move has become the focus of attention. However, according to the settlement agreement reached earlier, CZ has resigned from the position of CEO of Binance and is not allowed to participate in any "daily" activities of the company in the future.
This agreement seems to restrict the subsequent development of Binance and CZ, but in fact it brings more choices to CZ himself and also creates more possibilities for Binance, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
First of all, after being released from prison, CZ is no longer just the CZ of Binance, but the CZ of the industry. He has the energy to devote himself to fields such as education, bringing more growth to the entire industry.
Secondly, in the four months without CZ, Binance has completed de-CZ and is moving forward steadily under the leadership of professional manager Richard and co-founder He Yi. There may be more new explorations in the future.
It is worth noting that although CZ will not be directly involved in the company's operations in the future, he will still be the largest shareholder of Binance and have a say in major decisions of Binance within the permitted scope. In other words, CZ is still with us from beginning to end, just retreating behind the scenes.
According to Fortune magazine's speculation, CZ's first stop after his release from prison is likely to be Dubai or Paris, because his children live there with their mother He Yi. He will devote more energy to family and charity in the future. More detailed information may emerge in the next few months about the Giggle Academy project initiated before he went to prison.
No matter what, CZ’s return is good for the entire industry, and we look forward to CZ continuing to shine in the Web3 world.
Finally, at this special moment, I would like to share some of CZ’s views during the interview with “Wang Feng 10 Questions” in June 2018. The interview was conducted in a WeChat group, in the form of a text AMA, and this was also my first close contact with CZ.
The background of that interview was the sudden emergence of FCoin, which achieved the first place in global trading volume (the sum of the second to seventh places) in just 15 days by virtue of “trading is mining”, triggering a war among exchanges.
Objectively speaking, the impression of CZ at that time was more of a businessman who would attack other companies for the benefit of Binance. However, six years later, when we witnessed the collapse of FCoin and the bankruptcy of FTX, you will find that many of CZ's views are forward-looking, and he is good at thinking about problems from an industry perspective and providing solutions.
The following is part of the dialogue in "Wang Feng's 10 Questions to CZ" that year, enjoy:
1. About Binance establishing an exchange in Uganda
Many people are eyeing developed countries where it is easy to make money, but Binance wants to delve deeper into the industry and popularize blockchain and digital currency around the world at its own pace.
What we need to do is to make the bridge as wide as possible so that more people can come in as easily as possible. More and more countries and regulatory authorities should support digital currency, so that the entire industry will grow bigger.
2. About the exchange war triggered by FCoin
For any business model to be successful, it must be sustainable.
Don't worry about the threat posed by FCoin. The final competition will depend on products and services.
Affected by the relationship between supply and demand, the trading-as-mining model will fall into a vicious circle. It is already very difficult to sustain it for so long.
3. Regarding the low IPO price drop rate of Binance listed coins
The most important thing is to have your own brand effect, and what you do must be positive to form a cycle of positive energy.
Strict review is the second step. Binance’s coin listing team works day and night to research projects. Even so, they will make mistakes, but the number of mistakes should be the least.
Binance treats industry veterans equally, and even offends many people for this, but its principle of protecting users first will never change.
4. Difficulties encountered by Binance
Binance has a very international team, and it is important to understand international user habits and international culture.
Most Chinese people may only look at China, but in fact the world is quite big. If you travel around the world, you will find that most countries now want to attract blockchain companies and digital currency exchanges.
Many countries and regions have very high support for digital currency, but their energy is limited and they cannot connect with all of them one by one.
5. About old partner He Yi
In my eyes, He Yi is "someone who could have made a living by relying on his looks, but chose to fight for his ideal", and it is not a personal ideal, but an ideal of really wanting to do something meaningful.
I knew from the beginning that there would be no problems in our cooperation. I couldn't do anything she could do, and I didn't have the abilities she had.
Always look for people who are better than you, and give them space, responsibility and rights. We have the same philosophy, so it's easy.
6. About transactions
Trading is the blood and heart of an economic system. The exchange should be more like the heart, so you can directly see its impact on the entire economy. I have always liked this.
Trading platforms must have a bottom line, not participate in transactions, not manipulate the market, and provide users with a fair trading environment. What I will do is to run an exchange. I know how to run a very fair exchange. We must make this industry right.
7. About the financing dispute
I will not evaluate any particular person or company individually, but one thing I can say is that traditional investment institutions are old-fashioned and unfriendly to startups.
That era should have passed. Now the right to speak should be in the hands of entrepreneurs. Good projects and good teams will never lack money.
8. About exchange fraud
There are too many fake transactions now, which is not good for the industry and makes our industry seem fake.
A truly strong person will not shout that he is the best every day. In the context of non-trading purposes, a more correct expression is that we don’t care about being the first. We care more about how much infrastructure work we have done for this industry, rather than harvesting.
9. About public chains and decentralized exchanges
Public chains will definitely be a trend in 5, 10, or 20 years, so we will not give up on really good models. We embrace change and innovation.
Currently, the performance of the public chain is not fast enough. In the short term, large transaction volumes should still be on centralized trading platforms. It may take a few more years for decentralized trading platforms to become mainstream.
10. About IPO and traditional finance
Binance has no IPO plans. IPOs in the traditional financial industry have become a tool for financing or for early investors to get out of their predicaments. Blockchain has brought us into the next era.
Cryptocurrency exchanges will coexist with traditional exchanges for a while. The former is much less popular than the latter, so it is too early to say that they will replace the latter. It is difficult to predict what they will become in the future, so just focus on doing well in the present.
Click the link to read the full text of the conversation: https://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2018-06-29/doc-iheqpwqz1299530.shtml
