Original author: Mike Dalton, Cryptoslate
Translated by: PANews
On May 29th, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao gave an interview to Bankless, sharing his views on the current state of the cryptocurrency industry and market.
Recently, there have been many controversies in the cryptocurrency market surrounding Binance. Forbes, Financial Times, and Reuters have all reported on its alleged misuse of funds. In response, Zhao Changpeng has made a special statement, stating that mainstream Western news tends to report negatively on cryptocurrencies, and that Binance's large scale makes it easy to cause FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt).
Zhao Changpeng explained: "If you write a negative article about a small exchange, no one will care, but if you put Binance's name in the title, hoping it's negative, people will click more."
In addition, Zhao Changpeng also claimed that he has become a target of Western media attacks due to his "race". He stated that although he was born in China, he is a Canadian citizen. Despite the fact that Binance was founded in China, it is no longer operating locally due to regulatory requirements, and Chinese employees have been relocated.
Zhao Changpeng said that despite the FUD, Binance's goal is to be "as transparent as possible" and has provided a reserve proof report. However, Zhao Changpeng admits that transparency "has its limits". If Binance publicly discloses all wallet addresses, it will expose supplier and partner information, which will harm privacy and security and affect competition.
Regarding regulatory compliance, Zhao Changpeng stated that Binance has always been actively involved in global regulation. However, due to its large scale, regulatory agencies tend to scrutinize it more closely. Despite the increasing cooperation between the cryptocurrency industry and regulatory agencies (such as cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase and Kraken working with regulatory agencies), competitiveness has actually weakened. Zhao Changpeng further stated that the cryptocurrency regulations being implemented in the Middle East and Europe are very promising, and he previously revealed that Binance's business in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is continuously growing.
In addition, Binance once considered acquiring a bank, but found that it needed to comply with local regulations extensively, and the cost and risk of the bank were high, often resulting in low profits.
Regarding the current state of the cryptocurrency industry, Zhao Changpeng clearly stated that the market is recovering from the bear market of 2022. However, investors have mixed emotions because no one knows what will drive future "explosive growth".
"What will drive the next cycle? Everyone is searching for it now, but no one can be certain. This may be why many people are flocking to meme coins. However, at least this situation indicates that there is capital in the market, just waiting to be deployed."
Zhao Changpeng specifically stated that his view on the positive market trend may be wrong, and people who invest in a bull market should only invest what they can afford to lose, rather than seeking excessive speculation. Finally, Zhao Changpeng revealed that he encountered failure when he first invested in stocks and cryptocurrencies, and "learned this lesson in a painful way".
