Changpeng Zhao: Cryptocurrency is the mainstay of technology in the eyes of the storm

Champeng Zhao does not like vague words. That’s exactly it: the crypto industry, where he’s a leading figure, screaming for turmoil and transparency.

The 45-year-old founder and chief executive of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Observer In an upmarket hotel in London after one of the most turbulent weeks in the short history of digital money.

Binance was forced to suspend its bitcoin business for a few hours on June 13th. On the same day, a major crypto lender, Celsius, also halted withdrawals. A large crypto hedge fund then admitted it had problems. Finally, last Saturday, in a symbolic moment, Bitcoin fell below $ 20,000. Crypto’s core foundation has lost more than half of its value this year, with both professional and amateur investors facing steep losses.

Often referred to by the nickname CZ (C-G), Zhao is dressed in a classic tech-tycoon mix in a company t-shirt and formal dark suit with trainers. He says he is currently traveling from country to country, meeting with “various government officials, regulators”.

Despite his soft-spoken demeanor, he is on a mission to explain. The conversation sometimes becomes semantic – perhaps a response to the level at which he and his business are being scrutinized. As he described this month, whether the recent crypto market move is still “normal”, Zhao said: “Normal depends on how you view it … everyone has a different definition of normal … price fluctuations are normal.”

There is a similar focus on money when Zhao is asked about money laundering – “the term is very different in different countries” – although he says Binance can “certainly” do a “good enough job that regulators are happy”.

Last June, the Financial Conduct Authority instructed Binance to suspend all regulated activities in Britain, saying it was “not capable of effective oversight”. Zhao, however, did not give up and said he was seeking a work permit.

Last week, Bloomberg conducted an interview with him that raised the possibility of a deep regulatory winter for his business. He responded by tweeting to his 6.5 million followers: “I will stop interviewing news outlets headlined ClickBet.”

He obviously has a deep interest in the media. Binance has announced plans to invest 200m (£ 160m) in Forbes, the business publisher, as well as Twitter plans to invest lon 500m in Elon Musk’s $ 44bn bid.

Born in the coastal province of Jiangsu, north of Shanghai, Zhao followed his educational father to Canada when he was 12 years old. After graduating in computer science from McGill University in Montreal, he worked in programming systems for the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg. Zhao then moved to Shanghai in 2005, where he established a high-frequency trading platform.

It was there that he was attracted to conversations about bitcoin during a poker game in 2013. Four years later Binance was founded.


CV

Age 45
Family “I want to keep it private for security and privacy reasons.”
Education McGill University, Canada.
Last vacation Take one or two days off a few times a year, but not long vacations.
The best advice has been given to him “Internally, keep your head down and build. Externally, learn risk management. If everything goes to zero, are you still okay?”
The biggest mistake of the career Binance should have started soon.
The words he uses extra “Who is responsible for this? WHO? “
How comfortable he is Books, chat with friends.


THe said the impact of recent events on Zhao’s fate has been rapid, according to a source. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that its assets – based on 90% of Binance’s shares and its controls on related US exchanges – have fallen more than $ 75 billion to $ 20.6 billion since January, as the broader market more than halved to about $ 900bn.

Zhao laughed. “I have no idea how they come up with these numbers. You have to understand that the net worth is just an estimate, “he said.” When I look at my wallet, I don’t have so much. I don’t have any of these numbers anywhere near. “

If you’re wondering how Zhao could find $ 20 billion in his wallet, he’s referring to his crypto wallet – an encrypted account in a blockchain where digital money is stored. Although all blockchain activity is technically universal, most large investors try to keep their wallets under pseudonyms and are not publicly identified by Zhao.

Binance makes money by connecting buyers with sellers. It offers various currency exchanges from Bitcoin to Dodgecoin and Non-Functional Tokens (NFTs). The company also offers to store those assets in a crypto wallet and has a variety of financial products, including derivatives. It has 120 million subscribers worldwide and trades for 1tn per month, with countries allowing it to operate with Italy and France, although subscribers can access it through the unregulated, offshore binance.com platform.

Last year, Zhao told the AP News Agency that he only held Bitcoin and his firm’s own crypto-assets, BNB.

One of the confusing issues for regulators is the lack of clarity about Binance’s structure. The holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands but the company describes itself as “decentralized” ownership, with the terms referring to an “ecosystem”. For example, its US exchange differs from the main binance.com platform, whose operating base is not disclosed.

Some other questions on Binance are more serious. Reuters released a report in June alleging that it acted as a carrier of at least 35 2.35 billion in smuggling from hacking, investment fraud and illicit drug sales.

Zhao said he disputed the claims “very heavily”, adding that Binans should have been able to identify the transactions by adding public records provided by the blockchain. “We want a list of transactions, not just a list of names. They paid zero. ”

Reuters said: “We stand by our report on Binance, which is in line with the Trust’s policy. [its in-house guidelines] Freedom from accuracy and bias. “

The conversation goes to those whose savings have been deleted by the crypto route. “We have full sympathy for those who have lost money in trading in any market, including the stock market,” Zhao said. He said financial literacy is important, and mentioned his company’s own Binance Academy.

He acknowledges that there could be more failures in the crypto market. But he is unequivocal that he will survive there. “There may be other failures. But there will be crypto, there will be bitcoin, there will be etherium, there will be BNB. This part is pretty sure. “



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