Binance’s CZ Believes in a Decentralized Future

Although DeFi evolution could take several years, it will likely take over centralized exchanges in the future, the CEO said

article-image

Blockworks Exclusive Art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Centralized exchanges serve as a necessary on-ramp to crypto for consumers not familiar with the space, CZ said
  • As people become more familiar with blockchain technology, they will transition to DeFi

Despite founding the largest centralized exchange in the world, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) thinks decentralized finance is likely to become more prevalent in the future.

This evolution, he told Messari co-founder and CEO Ryan Selkis Wednesday at the Mainnet conference in New York, would likely take “a number of years.”

The majority of people in today’s society are not familiar with cryptocurrencies, CZ said. For this reason, it is likely that their first interactions with blockchain technology will be through centralized exchanges, such as Binance.

Once people become knowledgeable about crypto, they may then transition into DeFi technology, he said.

Despite being a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, Binance has been actively pushing the adoption of its native BNB Chain, an Ethereum virtual machine-compatible chain, and BinanceDEX.

The platform recently revealed that it would be transitioning user balances in USDC, USDP and TUSD to its own Binance USD (BUSD) token on Sept. 29 at 11:00 pm ET. The move, CZ said, will improve trading liquidity for its users. 

The exchange will continue to allow withdrawals in USDC, USDP or TUSD at a 1:1 ratio from the BUSD balances following the conversion. 

Loading Tweet..

CZ emphasized that the crypto industry is still in its early stages — and the market is not “saturated.”

To achieve mass adoption, he believes that regulatory changes are necessary and businesses building in the space must adapt to these changes to move the industry forward.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

RTK networks are critical to enabling a world of ubiquitous autonomous drones, vehicles, and industrial robots. We believe the GEOD token enables both a cost and product advantage for the GEODNET RTK network, which will allow it to out-compete multi-billion dollar incumbents Trimble and Hexagon.

article-image

Jack explored the various AI and memecoin projects that have sprung up over the past month

article-image

If gold remains steady today, a single move from bitcoin to $98,500 would do it

article-image

Revenue estimates for the third quarter come in at $33 billion, which would be an 83% increase from the prior year

article-image

Senator Cynthia Lummis hopes a US strategic bitcoin reserve can be teed up for “adoption in 2025”

article-image

As EIP-4844 “blobs” transform the economics of Ethereum layer-2s, a growing debate pits long-term scalability against immediate ETH value

article-image

Prosecutors argued that FTX co-founder Gary Wang cooperated in their case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried