Source:Talking Tokens Podcast

Compiled & Edited: Shenchao TechFlow

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

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

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. This content involves overall trends in the crypto industry and the development of the Binance platform, and the views inevitably reflect a position.

Summary of Key Points

Binance celebrates its ninth anniversary, and CZ accepted a brief interview with Talking Tokens at the Binance event. He reflected on the rough state of the exchange industry when he started in 2017, admitting that his biggest blind spot at the time was legal compliance and international politics. Binance rose to the top globally within five months of its launch, which CZ attributes to product experience, user protection, and luck in catching the ICO wave.

The most forward-looking part of the interview involves the intersection of AI and crypto. CZ predicts that AI agents will begin to handle payments for humans in a few months (rather than years), and cryptocurrencies are the "native currency" of AI agents. He also believes that the penetration rate of crypto is less than 1% in terms of wealth, and the biggest misconception in the industry is treating crypto as a speculative asset rather than a foundational technology. After stepping down from the CEO position, 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 focusing 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 launch them much earlier."
• "We became number one in the world within the first five months and maintained that position every single day thereafter."

On Community

• "If you treat the community well, they will follow you to the ends of the earth."
• "Companies can be attacked by regulation, law, and geopolitics, whereas the community is almost immune to these. The community can even fight back for you."

On Crypto Awareness

• "People treat crypto as a speculative asset, always thinking about when to exit. You don’t exit the internet, you don’t exit AI. The same goes for crypto; it is a technology."
• "In terms of wealth, the penetration rate of crypto is probably less than 1%. The market is far from saturation."

On AI × Crypto

• "AI will eventually start handling payments for us. Right now, AI can find the best hotels and flights, but it can't place orders for you. This capability will be here in a few months; there’s no need to wait for years."
• "Once AI starts trading, it will need a native currency. Using credit cards is too cumbersome; cryptocurrencies are 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 completely change the security landscape. It can find vulnerabilities, which is useful for both developers and hackers. There may be some attacks in the short term, but in the long run, systems will become much safer."
• "The latest Anthropic Methuselah model is extremely powerful; I hope a version is soon made available for developers to strengthen systems."

On Financial Integration

• "There should be no division between crypto finance and traditional finance. Just as you wouldn’t say that postal and email systems are two separate systems, ultimately there will only be one financial system."
• "Which country doesn’t want its stock market open to the world? Tokenization is just a matter of time."

The main text is as follows:

Looking Back After Nine Years: The Exchange in 2017 Was Not Done Well Enough

Jacquelyn Melinek:This year marks the ninth anniversary of Binance. Before founding Binance, you also worked at large exchanges. Looking back at the market in 2017 and your situation at that time, what do you think were the problems in the exchange industry that no one solved well, prompting you to start your own?

CZ:Before I started my own business, I spent my entire career executing orders and working on exchange systems. In 2017, observing the exchange industry, I felt that the products could be better, the technology could be better, the matching engine could be faster, the security could be higher, and customer service could be more complete. At that time, exchanges did not truly prioritize users. I saw there was definitely room for improvement. Of course, we were also lucky to catch a wave of ICOs and benefited from that market.

Jacquelyn Melinek:Do you think the CZ of 2017 is the same person as the CZ of 2026?

CZ: (laughs) Different now. Much older, but not necessarily wiser. Faced more challenges, let’s put it that way. A lot has happened in the past nine years; my mentality and my body are different now.

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

CZ:Knowing what I do now, I would tell my younger self: Spend more time learning legal compliance and politics. Before 2017, I was a tech person focused on product and user protection, but I underestimated the importance of legal aspects. I didn't have enough understanding of international law and wasn’t aware that some U.S. laws have global jurisdiction and long retroactive periods. That’s the first piece of advice I would give myself.

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

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

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

CZ:In the first year. In the first five months, we reached number one globally, and after that, we maintained that position every single day.

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

CZ:There are many factors contributing to a company's success. The product needs to be good, customer service needs to be good, but more importantly, there must be a mission. Our mission is to increase the freedom of currency, and one of the core values is to protect the user. Protecting users has helped us maintain our position after becoming number one.

Of course, there was 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 biggest U.S. exchanges hadn’t even listed Ethereum at that time. We caught the turning point of the industry. However, competition was fierce, with Bittrex and Poloniex being giants at that time. We had a good product and service, combined with strong user protection—each element was essential.

The Community is More Resilient than the Company

Jacquelyn Melinek:The theme of Binance's ninth anniversary is "Built by You." How do 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 around two to three thousand dollars. The user base was small but very loyal; they were early adopters who understood the product deeply. They knew we protected them, so they followed their hearts and money.

As the community grew, Binance has consistently acted to protect users. Many volunteers contribute to the Binance ecosystem; some are called Binance Angels, and some have no formal title at all. The entire platform is truly community-driven, and "Built by You" expresses just that.

Jacquelyn Melinek:You’ve 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 can face various attacks, especially centralized ones, where regulation, law, and geopolitics come knocking. The community is almost immune to such attacks because it is distributed and, in our case, global. It is difficult to launch effective attacks against a globally distributed community. The community can also fight back; its voice on social media often outweighs mainstream media. There is immense power in the community 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 brings users back repeatedly?

CZ:Products in any industry can be improved. Today, the friction in fiat on/off-ramp channels is still high. Whoever can achieve lower fees, lower friction, and greater geographic coverage has the advantage.

Stablecoins are similar; the most popular ones do not provide interest to users, and those that do offer poor transaction capabilities. If there were a stablecoin that provided good interest and could be traded freely, that would be an improvement. RWA tokenization is still new; there are only a few stocks that are genuinely tokenized, most of which center around the U.S. Why wouldn’t other countries want to tokenize their stock markets for global participation? In terms of wealth, the penetration rate of crypto is probably less than 1%. We are still at the starting phase.

Jacquelyn Melinek:We’ve talked for years about "the next billion users," but we haven’t even reached the first billion. What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding the industry has about 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. The same goes for crypto; it is a technology. Crypto blockchain will remain; it is one of the three foundational technologies in 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: Will Arrive in Months

Jacquelyn Melinek:In what ways will AI and crypto worlds truly intersect?

CZ:AI will eventually handle payments for us. Currently, AI can help you find the best hotels and flights, but it can't place orders for you. This capability will arrive in a few months; there’s absolutely no need to wait for 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 within a country but perform poorly for global payments. You will see more and more global citizens needing to pay someone on the other side of the world, needing to book tickets in different regions; crypto payments are much more convenient. Crypto payments are the biggest unlocking point for AI. Others, like using blockchain for training data validation, are still far off. AI companies are big, profitable, and highly valued, and for now, they won’t prioritize decentralization.

Jacquelyn Melinek:Do you think crypto payments are a near-term prospect, or will they be three to five years down the line?

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

AI Changing Security Landscape: Using the Strongest Models to Strengthen Systems

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

CZ:I view AI much like the internet. Can you say you don’t use the internet? That’s probably not a good idea. Every company, every individual should make full use of AI but must also avoid misuse. AI is excellent at helping people write code, debug, and perform code analysis, and it’s also useful in design and video. But we shouldn’t let AI do everything; we live in a human world, and people still desire a human touch. AI excels at creativity, but raw creativity is still stronger in humans.

Jacquelyn Melinek:Besides payments, in what other areas 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; I hope soon to have a version available for developers to strengthen systems. There may be some hacking incidents in the short term, but systems will be much safer in the long run.

Moreover, the throughput of blockchains is still insufficient; we need faster and larger capacity chains to lower 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 compared to what the internet achieved. The more digital we become, the more we will need digital currencies. The concept of cash is already outdated; AI will push us past that critical point.

A Different Perspective: Missing Stablecoins, Now Focusing on RWA

Jacquelyn Melinek:You have transitioned from CEO to a different role; have you discovered anything different about the industry since stepping back?

CZ:The perspective is indeed different. When I was CEO, everything revolved around Binance, with twenty-five meetings a day and various issues popping up constantly; the viewpoint 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, studying AI and biotech, and I can delve deeper into new directions in the crypto space.

When I was CEO, I actually missed the opportunity with stablecoins. At that time, I thought stablecoins were just a transitional technology, used to bridge between exchanges. In the end, they grew significantly. Now I am spending a lot of time looking at RWA and tokenization; I am also advising governments in this direction. 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, without Binance and without reputation, only with your experience, what would you choose to do?

CZ:If I were to build something new, I can only choose something I understand. My experience only points in one direction: to build an exchange. (laughs) I always tell people to find where their strengths lie, what they are interested in, and what is valuable to others; these three intersect. What I excel 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 ultimately merge into one?

CZ:It will definitely happen. There should be no distinction between crypto finance and traditional finance. Just as you wouldn’t say that postal and email systems are two parallel systems, today most people no longer use postal services for messaging. The crypto blockchain is merely a new technology within 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 thank you for having me.

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