CZ: Don't think about quitting crypto, if I have to start over, I will still run an exchange

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Guest: CZ (Changpeng Zhao), Founder and former CEO of Binance

Host: Jacquelyn Melinek, Talking Tokens Podcast (Strata Media)

Podcast Source: Talking Tokens Podcast

Original Title: Binance Founder CZ on what it took to build the world's largest crypto exchange and stay #1

Broadcast Date: July 16, 2026

Disclosure: CZ is the founder and major shareholder of Binance. The content of this episode involves overall trends in the crypto industry and the development of the Binance platform, and the views inevitably carry a bias.

Key Points Summary

Binance celebrates its ninth anniversary, and CZ participated in a brief interview with Talking Tokens at the Binance event. He reflected on the rough state of the exchange industry in 2017 and admitted that his biggest blind spot at the time was legal compliance and international politics. Binance reached the top of the global market just five months after its launch, which CZ attributes to product experience, user protection, and a bit of luck in catching the ICO wave.

The most forward-looking part of the interview is the intersection of AI and crypto. CZ predicts that AI agents will start completing payments for humans within months (not years), and cryptocurrency is the "native currency" for AI agents. He also believes that the penetration rate of crypto, calculated by wealth, is less than 1%, and the biggest misunderstanding in the industry is treating crypto as a speculative asset rather than a foundational technology. After stepping down as CEO, CZ admits he missed the rise of stablecoins and is now spending a lot of time researching RWA and tokenization.

Highlights of Insights

On Reflecting on Entrepreneurship

• "I would tell my younger self: Spend more time learning compliance and politics. Before 2017, I was just a tech person, focused on product and user protection, but I underestimated the importance of legal aspects."
• "The second piece of advice is to run faster. Binance's futures contracts were launched two years later; if I could do it again, I would do it much earlier."
• "We became the global number one in the first five months, and we maintained that position every day thereafter."

On Community

• "If you treat the community well, they will follow you to the ends of the earth."
• "Companies face attacks from regulators, laws, and geopolitics, but the community is almost immune to these. The community can even fight back for you."

On Crypto Perception

• "People treat crypto as a speculative asset, always thinking about when to exit. You don't exit the internet, you don't exit AI. Crypto is the same; it is a technology."
• "Calculated by wealth, the penetration rate of crypto is probably less than 1%. The market is far from saturated."

On AI × Crypto

• "AI will eventually handle payments for us. Right now, AI can search for the best hotels and flights, but it can't place orders for you. This capability will come within months, definitely not years."
• "Once AI starts trading, it will need a native currency. Using credit cards is too clumsy; cryptocurrency is the natural choice."
• "Crypto payments are the biggest unlocking point for AI. Other uses, like training data validation, are still far off."

On Security

• "AI will fundamentally change the security landscape. It can find vulnerabilities, which is useful for both developers and hackers. In the short term, there may be some attack incidents, but in the long run, systems will become much more secure."
• "The latest Anthropic Methuselah model is extremely powerful, and I hope there will soon be a version for developers to use to strengthen systems."

On Financial Integration

• "There shouldn't be a distinction between crypto finance and traditional finance. Just like you wouldn't say postal services and email are two separate systems, there will ultimately be only one financial system."
• "Which country doesn't want its stock market to be open to the world? Tokenization is just a matter of time."

Main Text

Nine Years in Retrospect: Exchanges in 2017 Were Not Good Enough

Jacquelyn Melinek: This year marks Binance's ninth anniversary. Before founding Binance, you also worked at large exchanges. Looking back at the market in 2017 and your state at that time, what problems did you see in the exchange industry that no one was solving well, prompting you to start your own?

CZ: Before I started my business, my entire career was in order execution and exchange systems. Looking at the exchange industry in 2017, I felt that products could be better, technology could be better, matching engines could be faster, security could be higher, and customer service could be more complete. Exchanges at that time did not truly prioritize users. I felt there was definitely room for improvement. Of course, we were also lucky to catch the ICO wave and benefited from that market.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Do you think the CZ of 2017 and the CZ of 2026 are the same person?

CZ: (laughs) Not the same. I've aged a lot, but not necessarily smarter. I've faced more challenges, let's put it that way. A lot has happened in nine years, and my mindset and body are different now.

Jacquelyn Melinek: If you could give your 2017 self one piece of advice, what would you say?

CZ: Knowing what I know now, I would tell my younger self: Spend more time learning legal compliance and politics. Before 2017, I was just a tech person, focused on product and user protection, but I underestimated the importance of legal aspects. I also didn't understand international law well enough and didn't know that some U.S. laws have global jurisdiction and long statutes of limitations. This is my first piece of advice to myself.

The second piece of advice is to run faster. There were many products I hesitated to launch at that time; looking back, entrepreneurs should push products to market early to get feedback. For example, Binance's futures contracts were launched two years later; if I could do it again, I would do it much earlier.

Reaching the Top in Five Months: Product, Mission, and a Bit of Luck

Jacquelyn Melinek: Binance surpassed dozens of exchanges and quickly reached the top. Was it in the first year or the second?

CZ: The first year. We became the global number one in the first five months, and we maintained that position every day thereafter.

Jacquelyn Melinek: It's easy to reach the peak, but hard to maintain it. What do you attribute this to?

CZ: The success of a company has many factors. The product must be good, customer service must be good, and more importantly, there must be a mission. Our mission is to increase the freedom of money, and one of our core values is to protect users. User protection helped us maintain our position after becoming number one.

Of course, there was also an element of luck in 2017. That year was the year of ICOs, and we were a new exchange that quickly supported ICO listings. Most other exchanges were still Bitcoin exchanges, and some of the largest exchanges in the U.S. hadn't even listed Ethereum at that time. We caught the turning point of the industry. But competition was fierce; Bittrex and Poloniex were giants at that time. We had good products and services, and we did well in user protection; all these elements were indispensable.

Community is More Resilient than Companies

Jacquelyn Melinek: The theme of Binance's ninth anniversary is "Built by You." How would you describe the community culture you want to create?

CZ: Nine years ago, crypto was still a very niche industry. When we started, Bitcoin was about two to three thousand dollars. The user base was small but very loyal, consisting of early adopters who knew the product inside out. They knew we protected them, so they followed their hearts and their money.

As the community grew, Binance has always protected users through actions. Many volunteers contribute to the Binance ecosystem; some are called Binance Angels, while others don't even have formal titles. The entire platform is truly community-driven; "Built by You" speaks to that.

Jacquelyn Melinek: You mentioned that sometimes the community is more resilient than the company. What can the community do that the company cannot?

CZ: If you treat the community well, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. Companies face various attacks, especially centralized companies, from regulators, laws, and geopolitics. The community is almost immune to these attacks because it is distributed, and in our case, it is global. It is difficult to launch effective attacks against a globally distributed community. The community can also fight back for you; its voice on social media often surpasses that of mainstream media. The community has tremendous power that can be mobilized.

Crypto Penetration Rate Below 1%: The Biggest Misunderstanding is Treating Technology as Speculation

Jacquelyn Melinek: In today's market, what can create a product that keeps users coming back?

CZ: Products in any industry can be improved. The friction in fiat on- and off-ramps is still high today; whoever can achieve lower fees, lower friction, and cover more regions will have an advantage.

Stablecoins are the same; the most popular ones do not give users interest, and those that do are not easy to trade. If there were a stablecoin that offered good interest and could be traded freely, that would be an improvement. RWA tokenization is still new; only a few stocks are truly tokenized, and they are centered around the U.S. Why wouldn't other countries want to tokenize their stock markets to allow global participation? Calculated by wealth, the penetration rate of crypto is probably less than 1%. We are still in the early stages.

Jacquelyn Melinek: We've talked for many years about "the next billion users," but we haven't even reached the first billion. What do you think is the industry's biggest misunderstanding regarding mainstream adoption?

CZ: Many people treat crypto as a speculative asset rather than a foundational technology.** They buy Bitcoin and think about when to exit. You don't exit the internet, you don't exit AI. Crypto is the same; it is a technology. The crypto blockchain will remain; it is one of the three foundational technologies of my life, the other two being the internet and AI. I advise people to look at projects with a long-term perspective.

AI Agent Payments: Coming Within Months

Jacquelyn Melinek: Where will the worlds of AI and crypto truly intersect?

CZ: AI will eventually handle payments for us. Right now, AI can help you search for the best hotels and flights, but it can't place orders for you. This capability will come within months, definitely not years. Once AI starts trading for people, it will need a native currency. Using credit cards is too clumsy; cryptocurrency is the natural choice.

Traditional fiat payments work fine domestically, but they perform poorly for global payments. You will see more and more global citizens needing to pay people on the other side of the earth or book tickets in different regions; crypto payments are much more convenient. Crypto payments are the biggest unlocking point for AI. Other uses, like blockchain for training data validation, are still far off; AI companies are large, profitable, and highly valued, and they won't care much about decentralization for now.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Do you think crypto payments are a near-term thing, or will it be three to five years later?

CZ: I guess one to two years. Once people start using AI for crypto payments, they will find it much faster. Moreover, the early adopters in the crypto space and the early adopters in AI overlap significantly.

AI Changing the Security Landscape: Strengthening Systems with the Strongest Models

Jacquelyn Melinek: How does AI affect Binance's internal operations and crypto infrastructure?

CZ: I see AI like the internet. Can you say you don't use the internet? That probably isn't a good idea. Every company and every person should make the most of AI, but it shouldn't be abused. AI is very good at helping people write code, debug, and perform code analysis; it is also useful in design and video. But we shouldn't let AI do everything; we live in a human world, and people still want a human touch. AI is good at creativity, but original creativity is still stronger in humans.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Besides payments, where else will AI change crypto?

CZ: AI will fundamentally change the security landscape.** AI is very good at finding vulnerabilities, and developers can use it to quickly identify system weaknesses. The latest Anthropic Methuselah model is extremely powerful, and I hope there will soon be a version for developers to use to strengthen systems. In the short term, there may be some hacking incidents, but in the long run, systems will be much more secure.

Additionally, the throughput of blockchain is still insufficient; we need faster and larger-capacity chains to reduce usage costs. AI will play an important role in accelerating this development. There is also a more fundamental trend: AI will push us toward a more digital world, tenfold or even a hundredfold deeper than what the internet has achieved. The more digital we become, the more we need digital currency. The concept of cash is outdated, and AI will push us past that critical point.

A Retrospective Perspective: Missed the Stablecoin Opportunity, Now Focused on RWA

Jacquelyn Melinek: After stepping down from CEO to a different role, have you made any different discoveries about the industry?

CZ: The perspective is indeed different. When I was CEO, everything revolved around Binance, with twenty-five meetings a day and various issues constantly arising, so my vision was actually quite narrow. Now, being forced to step back, I can see the industry as a whole. I have time to learn new things, study AI, and delve into biotechnology, and I can also gain a deeper understanding of new directions in the crypto field.

When I was CEO, I actually missed the rise of stablecoins. I thought stablecoins were just a transitional technology used to bridge between exchanges. As it turned out, it grew significantly. Now I spend a lot of time looking at RWA and tokenization, and I am also advising governments in this area. To be honest, stepping back has allowed me to learn new things faster.

If Starting from Scratch: I Would Still Build an Exchange

Jacquelyn Melinek: If you were to start from scratch today, with no Binance, no reputation, only your experience, what would you choose to do?

CZ: If I were to build something new, I could only choose something I understand. My experience points in one direction: building an exchange. (laughs) I always tell people to find what they are good at, what they are interested in, and what is valuable to others; the intersection of these three is key. What I am good at is trading systems; if I were to lead an AI team, it would probably be a disaster.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Do you think traditional finance, on-chain finance, and trading ecosystems will eventually merge into one?

CZ: It will definitely happen. There shouldn't be a distinction between crypto finance and traditional finance. Just like you wouldn't say postal services and email are two parallel systems. Today, most people no longer use postal services to send messages. Crypto blockchain is just a new technology for the financial system. Because it is new, it first formed a niche, but integration is already happening. Stocks are being tokenized on-chain, and traditional banks and financial institutions are also using blockchain. Ultimately, there won't be two parallel lines; there will only be one financial system.

Jacquelyn Melinek: CZ, thank you very much for your time, and congratulations to the Binance team on its ninth anniversary.

CZ: Thank you, and thanks for the invitation.