By
Mayowa Adebajo
May 9th, 2024
In addition to thanking customers for 6 years of support, CZ also explained highs and lows Binance experienced since the launch in 2017.
As Binance turns 6, CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) reflects on the company’s journey since inception and expresses deep appreciation to users who have kept the company profitable. In a heartfelt note shared with Coinspeaker, CZ details the exchange’s journey filled with problems and successes alike.
CZ opened with Binance’s “humble beginnings”, explaining that the exchange raised $15 million in digital assets and launched two weeks after. At the time, Binance launched with 5 tokens and only supported 2 languages. Zhao added that the exchange borrowed a customer support team from a different organization and had no marketing team.
Binance is now the world’s largest exchange by trading volume and has maintained this position since 2017. Six years after launching, Binance now has several thousand employees and supports more than 600 digital assets in over 40 languages.
CZ Reflects on Binance’s Challenges as Exchange Celebrates Year 6
Zhao wrote extensively about challenges the exchange faced in the note. He said the first major challenge was China’s decision to ban crypto exchanges and ICOs in September 2017. Because of the ban, ICO projects returned funds to investors, and tokens crashed. Zhao eventually had to pay $6 million of Binance’s money, 40% of the exchange’s treasury. Thankfully, the action paid off and attracted a flock of users to Binance. By December of that year, Binance had become the world’s largest exchange by trading volume.
CZ also mentioned navigating “an evolving regulatory landscape”. While regulatory issues have always been a problem in the crypto industry, especially since a “Tier 1 regulator in Asia” told CZ in 2019 that they do not regulate crypto, the CEO is now confident that regulators are now paying more attention.
“Globally, we have shown that compliance and innovation can exist hand in hand. We take pride in our licenses and registrations across 17 countries, a testament to our pro-regulation stance and the extensive efforts we have made in compliance and regulatory space,” wrote he.
Zhao remarked in support of regulation, assuring the Binance community that the exchange is eager to collaborate with policymakers.
As part of his note, CZ explained Binance’s level of exposure during last year’s crypto winter. He assured that while last year’s market was more volatile than the 2018 winter, Binance had “minimal exposure”. However, the CEO confirmed that Binance invested $3 million in Terra in 2018 and never sold or moved the LUNA tokens. The investment spiked to $1.6 billion in 2021 and then crashed to $0 last year.
Binance Looking Forward
As Binance turns 6, Changpeng Zhao seems enthusiastic about the future of crypto. Zhao highlights increasing institutional crypto adoption, mentioning firms like Fidelity, Citadel, and BlackRock. He also predicts that decentralized finance (DeFi) will accelerate as DeFi products make crypto ownership easy, and developers create more products. Zhao also predicts that DeFi will exceed CeFi in about 6 years.
Finally, the CEO ends his note by thanking Binance customers for their support and candid feedback.
“I am forever grateful to be on this journey with you. You are the heart and soul of Binance, for many years to come,” Zhao concluded.