Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao spoke about the evolution of the crypto ecosystem, and central bank digital currencies (MNBC). He believes that the latter could eventually compete with King Bitcoin.
Binance shows white paws to regulators
Changpeng Zhao („CZ“) explained his outlook in an interview with Fortune . According to him, we are witnessing a shift in the ecosystem: the arrival of institutions and the increased attention of central banks has given rise to a regulatory wave. The good news is that it creates official projects that leverage the latest blockchain technologies, including MNBCs . But that comes with more constraints, which took one victim last week : BitMEX.
Changpeng Zhao explains that Binance is particularly careful to comply with the expectations of regulators, so as not to suffer the same fate as its competitor. The CEO develops:
“We just want to maintain a very cautious structure that fully complies with regulations . […] We want to make sure that we don’t have American customers. “
This is precisely why a Binance clone, Binance US, emerged in 2019 , with enhanced measures to appease US regulators in advance.
MNBC VS Bitcoin, who will win?
This pro-regulation approach, which is relatively new to Binance considering its early days, arguably contributes to Changpeng Zhao’s relative openness to MNBCs . Binance CEO explains that any large digital currency would benefit the crypto industry, if only by letting the general public know about this area.
With one limitation: the first MNBCs launched will be much more restrictive than a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, according to CZ. Their centralized nature would therefore not allow them to play in the same court. But eventually, MNBCs and Bitcoin could be put in competition:
“If a government offers a new cryptocurrency that is even more open, freer and with fewer restrictions than Bitcoin, while being faster and cheaper to use, then it will threaten Bitcoin. But that’s a good thing for the industry, it means it would be something even better than Bitcoin. „
Changpeng Zhao’s opinion certainly agrees with certain analysts, who believe that the risk for Bitcoin is not a ban on the part of governments, but indeed direct competition from a currency at least as efficient .