Wu talks to Zhao Changpeng: discussing childhood experiences, the story of founding Binance, the most important article in life, why Solana exploded, Vitalik's dilemmas, and the challenges of listing on CEX

Author: Colin Wu, Wu Says Blockchain

In this interview, Colin from Wu Says Blockchain converses with Binance founder CZ Zhao Changpeng on various topics. CZ recalls his happy childhood in a Chinese school before the age of 12; after immigrating to Canada at 12, his family's economic status changed, with his mother going from being a teacher to a garment factory worker, which even affected her health; later, he dropped out of school early due to a job offer.

Due to Binance's rapid success, CZ went from being relatively unknown to becoming the world's richest person in just a few years. However, he later faced a lawsuit from the U.S. and ended up in prison for four months. CZ mentions that his biggest wish every year is to have six-pack abs. He jokes that he was closest to having six-pack abs when he was in prison because the food there was so bad.

During the conversation, CZ discussed the reasons behind Binance's early rapid success, attributing it mainly to personal experience and timing. At that time, other exchanges were primarily trading mainstream coins, while Binance quickly launched a large number of ERC20 token trades. He also discussed whether FTX could have been saved and the current challenges CEXs face in listing coins; whether centralized exchanges must move towards compliance; and the cryptocurrency policy directions in Hong Kong and the U.S.

CZ shared his experience writing the most important article of his life, "Principles"; discussed the current dilemmas faced by Vitalik; and poked fun at Justin Sun. He analyzed why memecoins on Solana suddenly exploded; introduced his future work and advice for entrepreneurs. Finally, CZ sent New Year wishes to the Chinese community, believing this year will be a very good year and hoping everyone can achieve good results steadily.

Listen to the full podcast:

Xiaoyuzhou:

https://www.xiaoyuzhoufm.com/episodes/6795f930d74435e4a3dc2cfa

YouTube:

https://youtu.be/vfl73WULagc

Childhood Life in China Before Age 12, Family Situation After Immigrating to Canada

Colin: Welcome, CZ, to our interview. The first question is, you left China at 12, do you still have memories of your childhood in China before the age of 12?

CZ: Yes, of course. I think I had a pretty happy childhood, and my memories are very beautiful. At that time, both my parents were teachers, and I lived on school campuses, like elementary school, middle school, and the campus of the University of Science and Technology of China, so I was always in a school environment, which left a great impression on me. I lived a carefree childhood; my family wasn't wealthy, but as a child, I didn't feel the lack of money, and I was doing quite well.

Colin: I saw your later interviews and had a question. After you moved to Canada, you mentioned that your parents' salaries were close to the local minimum wage. Did life become quite tight after moving to Canada? Did your parents continue to be teachers or do other jobs? Did you need to work to earn money?

CZ: When we first arrived in Canada, we were considered a middle or well-off family in China, and both my parents had salaries. My dad saved money while studying abroad and sent it back to China, so life was okay at that time after currency conversion. After moving to Canada, the quality of life didn't decline, but we were at the lower end of the social income ladder. However, we had no issues with food, clothing, or housing. My mom couldn't continue being a teacher due to her poor English, so she had to work in a garment factory, sewing clothes every day from early morning to late at night. This job was not good for her health, but it was the only job she could find.

In Canada, my dad was a teaching assistant, and although his salary wasn't high, the university provided housing subsidies for teaching assistants. We lived in a small house, but it was bigger than where I lived in China, so I considered it an improvement. We weren't particularly poor in Canada, but our income was close to the minimum level.

Colin: What subject did your father teach?

CZ: He taught geophysics. This subject has a high mathematical requirement, with many complex formulas that require frequent calculations. My father is very good at math, which might be why I excel in science subjects.

Reasons for Dropping Out of University: Delaying Graduation Due to Good Internship Offer

Colin: Both you and Vitalik immigrated to Canada and dropped out of university. Did you drop out because you wanted to start a business, or were there other reasons?

CZ: I was already in my senior year when I dropped out, which is different from dropping out in the first or second year. At that time, I was interning in Tokyo, and when my internship ended, my boss offered me a job with a very good salary. I compared it and realized it would be hard to earn such a high salary after graduation. My boss had a project halfway through and hoped I could delay my graduation for a year to continue working. Initially, he said to delay for a few months, just one semester, and he would still pay me my regular salary. This offer was very generous, so I kept delaying and ended up not returning to school for two years.

Colin: So it wasn't a decision to drop out to start a business right away; it was mainly because the job offer was too good.

CZ: Right, I wasn't like some people who decisively went to start a business. I delayed my studies because of this good offer and didn't return to school. Later, I found that not having a degree made it a bit troublesome to apply for a visa, so I got a degree through remote education at a college. So now I have a degree, but I didn't graduate from my original university.

Discussion on the Reasons for Binance's Early Rapid Development

Colin: I understand you've started several projects, with reports saying there are 5-10. You founded Binance in 2017. The early days of Binance were tough, and you certainly didn't expect it to grow so large. Looking back now, what do you think were the most important reasons for Binance's explosive growth in just one year?

CZ: Many people think Binance became famous overnight, but they may not have accounted for the 20 years of accumulation I had in the industry before that. I had been in the tech and exchange industries for over 20 years, and by the time I started Binance, I had already been in the digital currency field for four to five years, building connections and a team. When I started Binance, I assembled a strong team; both the tech team and product team were excellent. At the same time, the community also provided a lot of support, and people were not unfamiliar with me. Additionally, we were lucky; the timing was very good.

In 2017, established exchanges like Coinbase, OKCoin, and Huobi mainly focused on Bitcoin trading, with very few ERC-20 tokens listed. Our BNB was itself an ERC-20 token, so we supported this type of token from the start and later listed many ERC-20 tokens. From a product perspective, we had clear advantages. However, I think the most important thing was that our philosophy was different from previous exchanges. We weren't just focused on making money; we prioritized protecting users, which was very evident during the "94 Clean-up" incident.

At that time, it was stipulated that projects that had conducted ICOs in China had to return money to investors if they lost money, but many projects were severely in the red and couldn't repay. We had about four projects on our platform that were in a loss state, and the project parties couldn't cover user losses. After consideration, we decided to cover user losses, which required $6 million. Keep in mind that just two months prior, we had raised $15 million, and the company was still losing money; $6 million was equivalent to 40% of the company's assets. Even so, we still took out this money to cover user losses, and these were not projects we issued. In terms of customer service, while other exchanges might take two to three months to respond to customer requests in 2017, we promised to handle them within a day, and now we've shortened that to five minutes. These reasons contributed to Binance's rapid growth, and of course, luck played a part.

Security Pressures and System Performance Issues Faced by Binance Early On

Colin: I was working at Bitmain at the time, and I felt that the pressure on Binance during its first year must have been immense, especially regarding security. The team was small, and the industry's security infrastructure was not well established. Wasn't there immense pressure in dealing with hacker attacks and other security issues?

CZ: That's right. For any exchange, the security pressure from hacker attacks has always been significant; security is key to the operation of an exchange. There's a little anecdote that many people might not remember. In the first four months after Binance launched, from July to mid-October, all withdrawals were manually reviewed. Every withdrawal had to be processed manually, with a few processed every few hours.

When the staff took breaks at night, no one was there to handle it. The reason for manual review was that we were particularly worried that if there was a vulnerability, automated withdrawals could lead to a total loss of funds. By October, Binance had already entered the top ten exchanges globally, but withdrawals were still being handled manually. However, the bigger challenge at that time was actually system pressure. Binance was growing too fast, with users constantly pouring in, and the system was always lagging. Although we promoted our matching engine as being fast, the surrounding systems, such as the registration system, KYC system, deposit system, and withdrawal system, were all experiencing lag, so we focused more on optimizing system performance at that time.

Analyzing the FTX Incident: Could It Have Been Saved?

Colin: The FTX incident is a significant event in the crypto space, and looking back, it seems quite absurd in the history of the crypto world, and Binance was also involved. From today's perspective, was there any possibility of saving FTX at that time? It seems that its assets could cover user compensation, although the behavior of misappropriating user assets was very bad, and the responsible parties will definitely go to jail, but the remaining assets seem to be able to complete the compensation.

CZ: My understanding is that, based on the prices of cryptocurrencies in USD at that time, FTX's existing assets, when converted to USD at that time's coin prices, could cover the losses. However, if we were to return all the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and various digital currencies that users held at that time, the appreciation of those coins now means that FTX's assets cannot cover that. In other words, if FTX hadn't had problems, the assets users hold now might be three to four times more than what they actually have. According to the current calculation method, converting at the coin prices at that time to USD and then comparing it to the current value of FTX's assets in USD, it could be covered. But if users had held onto those coins until now, their market value should be four to five times what it is now. I'm not entirely sure if my understanding is completely accurate.

Colin: It seems the gap is still too large to bridge.

CZ: FTX actually did not completely cover all user assets; it was just calculated based on the lower coin prices at that time. If all digital currencies were returned to users, early users would have received five times the amount of money they should have gotten. This is similar to the Mentougou incident in 2014, where several hundred million was owed, which was a huge amount at the time, but now the coin prices have risen. Although FTX's assets can cover the price of Bitcoin at that time, from the user's perspective, if they had held onto the coins, the money they would get now would be five times more, so users still lost about 70-80%. Looking back, by November 2022, when FTX started to collapse, it was already beyond saving. If the problems had been detected earlier, there might have been a chance, but at that time, it was impossible to detect in advance.

Active On-Chain Economy and the Dilemma of Centralized Exchanges?

Colin: There's another recent hot topic I want to hear your thoughts on. Binance's early success was largely due to launching many high-performing new coins, like BNB and Tron, and later Binance's launchpad and launchpool were also very successful. But in the past year, the on-chain economy has been very active, and many people can get the lowest prices on-chain, while listing coins on exchanges has become a signal of price peaks, which contrasts sharply with the early days. I feel that both Binance and other exchanges are unsure how to respond. What do you think about this?

CZ: I think there are at least two levels of reasons for this. On one hand, as the platform grows larger, it can only list more stable coins. If Binance lists a new coin with a market cap of only $10 million, or even just a few hundred thousand or a few million dollars, its price fluctuations will be too large. So from the perspective of large exchanges, to avoid excessive price volatility, they can only choose coins with larger market caps, which is a natural limitation for large exchanges. However, large exchanges can also set up innovation zones or support these small coins in Web3 wallets, so there are ways to address this. Personally, I think Binance hasn't done particularly well in this regard. In the past year or two, Binance has been distracted by some issues in the U.S. and some personal matters, and I have been spending most of my time in the U.S. dealing with personal affairs.

On the other hand, MEMEcoins have been very popular in the past year. Large exchanges have generally not seized this opportunity, while it has been easier to participate on-chain, especially on the Solana chain. There are some claims about this, but I'm not sure of their truth. Solana was closely linked to FTX before, and after FTX collapsed, many people on Solana lost a lot of money and lost support from exchanges, so they chose to pump and dump. Doing such things on the Binance chain is not very appropriate, as it poses both moral and legal issues. Additionally, in recent years, the U.S. SEC, like Gary Gensler, has basically classified various coins as securities, and the only ones that can be clearly defined as not being securities are those with no practical use, which are MEME coins. Therefore, MEME coins are less likely to be sued. MEME coins have no other practical utility or promises, making them suitable for pump and dump schemes, and they are decentralized, so they have become very popular on Solana. It's like how we were lucky to hit a good timing in 2017; the past year or two has been the time for MEME coins. I find this quite interesting and do not judge it as good or bad. Since the industry is moving in this direction, as a Binance shareholder, industry KOL, or OG, as long as it benefits the industry's development, I will support it, so I also encourage everyone to support MEME coins.

Must Centralized Exchanges Move Towards Compliance?

Colin: Data shows that last year, Binance's capital inflow exceeded the sum of all other exchanges. This indicates that although Binance has faced constant challenges this year, its development is still very stable. However, centralized exchanges are now facing compliance challenges, and compliant exchanges find it difficult to profit, while offshore exchanges face increasing regulatory risks. Even the owners of exchanges may have issues when traveling to Japan or Europe, just like the Telegram owner was arrested as soon as he landed in France. What do you think about the current predicament of exchanges? Do you think they all have to move towards compliance in the future?

CZ: I think that's the case. Once a platform reaches a certain scale, it must comply. From the perspective of regulatory authorities, small platforms may be overlooked or temporarily ignored, but large platforms are definitely the focus of regulation. For example, Binance has been under regulatory scrutiny for a long time, so it must follow the compliance path. Binance has many restrictions, such as KYC requirements for Web3 wallets associated with the exchange. Although users control their assets in Web3 wallets (using MPC technology), some exchanges slightly smaller than Binance do not require KYC for their Web3 wallets. This is something Binance cannot do; these second-tier exchanges are not small but often do not conduct KYC, so Binance faces more restrictions. Large exchanges generally face more limitations, but compliance is a necessary path. Moreover, during the compliance process, regulatory enforcement is not uniform; not all platforms are treated equally.

Colin: It is indeed different. Now, someone like Justin Sun might make crazy donations to Trump, but during the Democratic administration, he might not have the opportunity.

CZ: Right. However, I believe regulation will eventually improve, especially as the U.S. has become very supportive of digital currencies. I think the U.S. will introduce a series of very positive regulatory provisions for the digital currency industry. The new regulatory provisions proposed by the new SEC are very clear and much more proactive than before. As a result, the overall regulatory environment will improve, and the regulatory framework will become more complete. Platforms that have obtained licenses and meet regulatory requirements will have more opportunities to grow.

As you mentioned earlier, although MEME coins are very popular now, in terms of capital inflow, Binance's platform had more capital inflow last year than the total of other exchanges. This means that many retail investors, especially those new to digital currencies, will choose the most stable and well-regulated large exchanges that have undergone multiple reviews and are still operating. Therefore, many new users tend to choose these more stable platforms. MEME coins are indeed very popular, but most of the people playing MEME coins are OGs. Although there are also newcomers joining, early adopters account for a large proportion. Many people, after playing with MEME coins, will still choose to buy Bitcoin when investing in digital currencies, and when buying Bitcoin, they may still choose large exchanges. Therefore, different fields will have different development speeds, regulatory pressures, and models, and I think that's good; an industry should have various different platforms.

Hong Kong Is Not Doing Enough; It Will Face More Relaxed Pressure from the U.S. in the Future

Colin: What do you think about the current regulatory policies in Hong Kong? You just mentioned the U.S.; in the next two to four years, it will be a significant boon for digital currencies. Currently, the entire Chinese region may regard Hong Kong as a breakthrough in the cryptocurrency field, and the latest report from the People's Bank of China also encourages Hong Kong to actively explore cryptocurrency policies.

CZ: I think China's strategy is very wise, using Hong Kong as a pilot area. In the past four years, the U.S. has had a very unsupportive and even repressive attitude towards digital currencies. In contrast, Hong Kong has been more friendly towards digital currencies, but currently, Hong Kong may be a bit behind in this regard. The existing regulatory provisions in Hong Kong are quite restrictive. For example, seven years ago, Japan had many regulatory restrictions on listing coins and futures, and the regulations were unclear. However, about three to four years ago, Japan basically completely relaxed its restrictions on listing coins. Hong Kong has not yet reached this level of leniency. However, after recently communicating with some senior officials in Hong Kong's regulatory departments, I feel that there is a trend towards relaxing regulations in Hong Kong. Now that the U.S. is making progress in digital currency regulation, Hong Kong certainly cannot lag behind. I believe Hong Kong will soon make significant positive adjustments. The adjustment of regulatory policies needs to be gradual; previously, Hong Kong's regulatory provisions were indeed quite tight, but it should become more competitive in the future, so I am relatively optimistic about Hong Kong's development in this regard.

The Most Important Article of My Life: "Principles"

Original text:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gUU-tp4U9X43qIkX9niCgQ?token=386014621\&lang=zh_CN

Colin: Next, I want to talk about the article "Principles" that you wrote earlier. This article has been widely circulated, and many people believe it summarizes your years of entrepreneurial experience. It contains many interesting viewpoints, such as your desire to collaborate more with those who actively seek you out, and your thoughts on work efficiency, like using text instead of phone calls and using phone calls instead of meetings. Looking back at this article now, what key points do you most want to convey to the outside world? After all these years, do you have any new thoughts to add? I heard you are writing a book; is it an expansion of this article?

CZ: Yes, I spent about two to three years writing that article.

Colin: It took that long.

CZ: Yes, I didn't expect it to take so long at first; I added content bit by bit while writing. I was inspired to write my own piece after reading Ray Dalio's book "Principles." But initially, I couldn't write anything. Later, when I met Ray, I asked him how he wrote "Principles." He told me to reflect on the decisions I made each day, why I made those decisions, and if there were any principled reasons behind some of those decisions, to write them down. After hearing him say that, I started writing a little bit every day. I would review the meetings I had, the decisions I made, and the reasons for those decisions, and if the reasons had general applicability, I would record them. It took me two to three years to complete this article, and although it's not long, it's about ten pages.

Colin: This is a very important article in your life.

CZ: That's right; it indeed took a lot of time. Ray's guidance gave me some ideas, and I slowly wrote down my thoughts, trying to write about areas that differ from others' thinking. For example, I wouldn't write about things everyone knows, like how companies should save money. I've always been observing myself to see which ideas differ from others. For instance, while others think that if you can meet in person, you shouldn't call, and if you can call, you shouldn't message, my viewpoint is the opposite.

This article took a lot of my energy, and my team helped me polish some parts, but the main content was indeed written by me. Additionally, I'm currently writing a book about my personal experiences. I originally hoped to finish and publish it in the first or second quarter of this year. Previously, I had little to do in the U.S. and couldn't meet many people, so I spent a lot of time writing. But now I've hit a bit of a bottleneck; even though I don't have work, I'm still busy, and I don't know why.

Future Focus on Participating in Investments and Communicating with Early Entrepreneurs

Colin: There were reports that you might be more involved in Binance Labs' investment work. Are you currently busy with investment-related matters?

CZ: Yes, we are preparing to rename Binance Labs, and it may be announced this week (it has been announced as Yzi Labs). I am indeed doing some investments, but I don't look at many projects in that area. I prefer to communicate with early entrepreneurs because I am also an entrepreneur and am very willing to support other entrepreneurs, so I pay more attention to early investment projects. Recently, I have been frequently communicating with founders from various industries, and many people have been kind enough to come to meet and chat with me, and I try to give advice whenever I can.

Through these conversations with founders, I have learned a lot. For the past seven or eight years, I have been focused on Binance's centralized exchange business, and now I am exposed to many new fields, such as AI, biological sciences, and many new things in the blockchain field. People might think I know everything about blockchain, but when you are busy operating a centralized exchange, you don't have time to delve into many new things; I only have a superficial understanding. Now I have the opportunity to spend more time learning from these founders and understanding the new things they are doing, which I find very interesting.

Views on the Dilemmas Faced by Ethereum

Colin: Here's an interesting question: Do you usually browse Twitter? Recently, Vitalik has been heavily criticized, and yesterday Justin Sun even offered him advice. What do you think about the current dilemmas faced by Ethereum? Do you have any suggestions?

CZ: I think this is more of a public relations crisis; it's a PR issue. Ethereum itself is still very strong; looking at market capitalization, apart from Bitcoin, it is larger than other coins. Solana has risen quickly, but its market cap is still below Ethereum. To be honest, Justin Sun has always liked to ride the wave of hot topics; he does well in PR. However, when Justin Sun gives advice to Vitalik, it's like a small exchange giving advice to a large exchange; there is still a gap in business level. Of course, Justin Sun is very smart and has his strengths; every founder has their unique qualities.

Vitalik is a technical genius, which cannot be overlooked or denied. Innovations like ERC-20, NFTs, and Soul-bound Tokens were all invented by him, and these all originated from Ethereum. He has made significant contributions to the entire industry. Although Ethereum's price hasn't risen much in the short term, its overall market cap is still considerable.

From my perspective, I support every entrepreneur in the industry; both Vitalik and Justin Sun have had their challenges. For those trading coins, it's hard to guarantee profits without losses; prices cannot keep rising indefinitely, and the industry will inevitably have fluctuations. I suggest everyone maintain a long-term investment mindset and not be emotional about price fluctuations. Since its inception, Ethereum's overall increase has surpassed that of Bitcoin, which is quite remarkable. Vitalik has recently posted a few tweets that may not have hit the right notes.

Colin: It feels a bit anxious.

CZ: Moreover, his way of speaking may not be very acceptable; he comes from a technical background and is quite straightforward, being young and direct in his speech. For example, when he says certain aspects are under his control or designated by him, it triggers more criticism. But as industry practitioners, we should be more tolerant of him; we can't put too much pressure on him over minor issues; entrepreneurship is really not easy.

Responding to the Difficulties Faced by Entrepreneurs in the Crypto Space

Colin: Additionally, this industry needs diversity; not everyone should just focus on Solana or all go into MEME coins, nor should everyone be like Justin Sun. The industry should have different development directions. You mentioned earlier that you mainly communicate with and support entrepreneurs now, but it seems that entrepreneurship in the crypto space faces some difficulties. Recently, a saying has become popular: good products don't need tokens, and good tokens don't need products. Regardless, it seems that entrepreneurship in the crypto space is facing a problem; apart from financial businesses, it seems difficult to make money in other areas, and the entrepreneurial path is quite narrow. Do you feel this way? What advice or thoughts do you have for these entrepreneurs?

CZ: This is the first time I've heard that saying today. But my view is completely different; I think there are many opportunities in the crypto space now. There are numerous projects that can do both the project itself well and have outstanding token performance. On the contrary, I believe that if there are only tokens without actual projects to support them, it will be hard to understand how their value can be maintained in the long run. Even if you issue MEME coins, there needs to be value support behind them; they can't rely solely on speculation. Therefore, I believe there are many things to be done in the industry. The trading volume of decentralized exchanges is rising, and more people are using them, but every blockchain experiences lag when trading volume is high. Even Solana, which claims to be fast, has recently experienced lag. Moreover, there is still much room for improvement in wallet usability.

There are still many industries that have not been served by blockchain, such as the research field. Many scientists need funding for their research; although there may be many failures, once successful, the returns can be very substantial. This model is feasible; it just hasn't been fully realized yet. Now some political figures are also starting to issue MEME coins, and after issuing them, how to provide value support for these MEME coins also needs exploration.

From my perspective, I have always been an entrepreneur, and I see countless opportunities. I always feel like I can't keep up; good entrepreneurs are always the most scarce resource. People trading coins may complain about why the coins they bought can't skyrocket immediately. But if you stretch the time frame a bit, a few months ago when Bitcoin was at $60,000, everyone was happy, thinking it had hit a new high. Now at $100,000, people are still complaining. I think people shouldn't expect prices to rise every day; they should look at it from a long-term perspective.

Discussing Views on Bitcoin Price Trends

Colin: How high do you think Bitcoin can rise in this cycle?

CZ: Many people ask me this question, but I really can't say. However, I think Bitcoin still hasn't peaked in this wave. Trump has just taken office, and a series of new compliance measures in the U.S. have yet to be introduced. I believe there will be many positive developments ahead. I have always been optimistic about the entire industry; even in the most severe bear markets, I maintain an optimistic attitude, and the same goes for bull markets. So I remain relatively optimistic, but my views may not be completely accurate.

On the Shift in U.S. Digital Currency Policy Attitude

Colin: In your last interview in Dubai, I remember Trump hadn't taken office yet. At that time, you said you didn't want to have any relationship with the U.S. Has your attitude changed now? You talked a lot today, and it seems you are still very confident. But if you get closer to Trump or the U.S., what if the Democrats come back to power in two or four years, and the policies fluctuate? How would you respond to that situation?

CZ: Yes, the last interview was probably before the U.S. election, around late October or early November, when the election hadn't started yet, so the situation in the U.S. was unclear, and we didn't know who would be elected. Even if someone was elected, it was unclear how optimistic Trump would be about digital currencies.

However, there have indeed been significant changes in recent months. Not only did Trump get elected, but he also released related policies, which was unexpected. Now, a series of newly appointed officials in the U.S., especially those in core government positions, are very supportive of digital currencies. This change in administration clearly shows that the influence of digital currencies is very significant. Many young people hold digital currencies, and if they are unfriendly towards digital currencies, it will directly affect their wealth, which will influence their voting; this is a natural reaction. So it's clear that digital currencies can no longer be ignored. Personally, I feel that the previous belief that repressing digital currencies could gain more support is now proven to be incorrect based on the election results. Therefore, I believe that in the next four years, digital currencies will see further development, and the likelihood of returning to a repressive attitude in four years is very low.

It's like the internet back then; initially, everyone questioned its pros and cons, but once it reached a certain level of development, its recognition could not be ignored. So the risks four years from now are, first, relatively small, and second, from the current perspective, the talent pool of the Republican Party in the U.S. is quite strong, such as the vice president, who has a high reputation. So we will see what happens in four years. But right now, the U.S. has a positive attitude towards digital currencies, which is very good for the entire industry. Currently, all countries are actively promoting blockchain regulatory provisions, and these provisions are becoming increasingly friendly, which is very positive. Binance currently does not serve U.S. users, but there is an independent company called Binance US. Although it has Binance in its name, it is a completely independent company. It has shrunk significantly due to some issues, but it is still operating. We hope it can develop healthily in the U.S. and continue to grow with this wave of favorable conditions.

I believe Binance US's products are very competitive; it has twice reached 40-50% of Coinbase's global trading volume, but both times it dropped due to other third-party objective reasons. So as long as the regulatory provisions are fair, it is very competitive, and I'm not particularly worried about that.

Sharing Daily Life

Colin: Some of my friends want to ask you a few questions. First, how do you spend your day? Second, your New Year wish used to be to get six or eight-pack abs; how's the progress now? Third, what is your favorite city?

CZ: Okay. Regarding my daily life, I am much more relaxed now than before. I usually schedule about seven or eight meetings a day and make a few phone calls, but now I can exercise every day. I currently enjoy two sports.

Both sports involve boards; one is skiing, and the other is kite surfing. When it's windy, I play for an hour or two every day, and the rest of the time is spent in meetings. My life now feels more like that of a retired investor, which is much better than when I was the CEO of Binance. Speaking of six-pack abs, when I just got out of prison, I could vaguely see six-pack abs, and I even took a photo.

Colin: Is it because the food was quite bland?

CZ: The food there was really terrible, so I ate less. When I first got out, I could vaguely see six-pack abs, and when I have the courage one day, I might post that photo I took casually in the bathroom; it’s not a fancy photo. After getting out of prison, it became very difficult to maintain six-pack abs because I had been eating poorly, and suddenly having good food made it hard to resist. Getting six-pack abs requires dietary control, but my self-control over diet isn't very strong now, so I lost the six-pack abs. That was probably the closest I ever got to having six-pack abs. What was the third question? Oh, my favorite city.

I like many cities; each city has its unique aspects. I currently feel very comfortable living in the UAE, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The business environment and digital currency environment here are good, and the country's management and security are also excellent. Of course, there are downsides; it is a desert, and it can be very hot in the summer, but the winter is very pleasant; right now, it's quite comfortable. I also really like Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore. There are many great cities in Europe, but currently, Europe is developing relatively slowly in digital currencies, so I visit less often. I haven't traveled much to South America and the U.S. because they are far away. I mostly operate in the Middle East and Asia; in Thailand, the traffic can be congested, but I like other aspects.

Colin: You can only travel by motorcycle.

CZ: Right, but usually when I go to a place, I typically just stay in the hotel, so I don't spend much time on the road; I meet many people in the hotel.

Sending New Year Wishes to Chinese Entrepreneurs and Investors

Colin: Finally, thank you, CZ, for taking the time. I hope we can continue to communicate next time. Since the Chinese New Year is approaching, could you say something to Chinese entrepreneurs and investors?

CZ: Sure, thank you very much, Colin, for this opportunity. I believe we can definitely communicate more often in the future. Previously, in many Asian communities, I usually let He Yi handle the Asian market while I focused on the English market; that's how we divided our work. So my communication with the Chinese community may not have been enough. Now that I am "retired," I will balance both sides in my personal capacity.

Here, my advice to everyone is to view this industry, technology, and industry development with the right mindset and patience. Whether you are an investor or an entrepreneur, the entire industry is in an upward phase. Although there may not be obvious progress every day, the situation is very favorable when viewed monthly or annually. Everyone should not be anxious; whether starting a business, issuing coins, or investing, you should steadily do your own thing. I believe this year will be a very good year. Here, I wish all friends and supporters in the Chinese community a Happy New Year. Additionally, in the future, I will spend more time engaging with the Chinese community, and we can communicate more.

Colin: Okay, thank you, CZ.