The CEO and founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”), said that regulation of the cryptocurrency industry is not necessarily bad.
If I were a regulator, the most logical thing I would do would be to look at existing rules in the traditional financial space and introduce them to cryptocurrency.
CZ said before he noticed that the cryptocurrency industry is very different from traditional financing.
CZ also added that he is not – unlike many others in the industry – a libertarian or an anarchist.
There are many extreme libertarians who believe that we have functioned well without rules without government intervention. I do not think we are fully ready for that as a society. At least in my opinion. I do not know how to keep ourselves safe.
Binance’s relationship with regulators
Changpenga Zhao’s operations have a complex relationship with regulators and have succeeded (so far) in skillfully navigating through them. The platform changed country from which it appeared several times.
Binance left China in 2017, just before the government cracked down on cryptocurrency exchanges. The stock market moved to Japan, then to Taiwan, and since 2018, Binance urged Malta’s president to take advantage of the country’s mild cryptocurrency rules. Unfortunately, it did not work, and Binance had to go elsewhere. Now the company, officially registered in the Cayman Islands, is working with … who knows?
In July last year, the Malaysia Securities Commission accused Binance of having worked illegally in the country. Binance has refuted the accusations that everything is fine and the stock market works according to rules.
We do not have a monolithic system developed by thousands of people in my office
CZ told Decrypt in November last year when he was asked how it handles regulatory issues. Later that month, The Block reported that authorities were closing the Binance office in Shanghai. Binance later claimed that it was not an office. Block withheld his version with reference to interviews with employees.
In an interview in November 2020, CZ described the rules as “too restrictive.” Today, however, he claims that it would be “OK” if the world’s first was “a little limiting”.
Having no rules is also not good for companies. I know other companies in the industry that want to work with regulators
Sade CZ.
