A relaxed Binance CEO kicked off the annual conference for the crypto elite in St. Moritz after FTX's recent collapse wiped out billion's worth of crypto assets, finews.asia reports.
Fresh off the slopes, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) spoke at this year's Crypto Finance Conference (CFC) in St. Moritz, about where the industry and his company find themselves at the start of the new year.
«Now it's time to build trust in the industry,» the CEO and founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange said. Trust can be gained by crypto firms attesting that they have one-to-one backing for assets they hold in custody on behalf of customers, as well as by adopting a «trustless» blockchain.
Relying on Technology
By trustless, CZ means being able to rely on the process and technology, and not having to trust the underlying entity carrying out the transaction. This year regulators are also focusing on these two concepts, he said.
As part of an industry-wide initiative responding to the aftermath of the FTX collapse, CZ announced he would commit up to $2 billion to Binance’s Crypto Rescue Plan to help troubled projects.
FTX Collapse
On the recent collapse of FTX, CZ said «telling a client that you are holding their assets one-to-one, then using these for other purposes is fraud.» If you tell the client beforehand that you are moving their assets to a third party, that gives them the option to then make an informed decision.
«At Binance we never move or have any control over our clients' assets,» he added.
Knee Jerk Reactions
CZ, who is in touch with around 30 to 50 regulators worldwide, said the industry should «embrace and help shape regulation,» while prioritizing customer protection.
When a country shuts crypto activity down, as China did, «the traditional financial players are the ones who suffer most,» as they are denied the possibility to develop the technology, he said referring to the crypto ban in the country. «They will lose out in the long term and will end up being disrupted,» he added.
Decentralized Future
In the future, there are likely to be more decentralized exchanges than centralized ones but at the moment, for Binance, it is impossible to become completely decentralized, This is mainly «because of regulators' demands, such as the obligation to have a physical headquarter,» he said.
