赵长鹏Bitcoin Asia 2026演讲精要：比特币百万美元将更快到来，多链不是零和博弈

Original article compiled by Sanqing, Foresight News

At the "Bitcoin Asia 2026" conference in Hong Kong, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao shared his views on topics including Bitcoin price expectations, utility expansion, regulatory attitudes across countries, the multi-chain ecosystem, and the role cryptocurrency will play in the era of AI agents.

Bitcoin at $1 Million and Utility Expansion

Changpeng Zhao stated that Bitcoin reaching $1 million is inevitable and will happen faster than the 25 years some predict. However, he believes that utility expansion matters more than price, requiring Bitcoin payments to achieve large-scale adoption and Bitcoin to become a reserve asset for retirement pensions.

He noted that people tend to overestimate what can be done in one year but underestimate what can be done in ten years, and a large amount of infrastructure will be built over the next decade. Over the past two years, traditional finance's attitude toward Bitcoin has shifted dramatically. Tokenized stocks have grown rapidly in the past year, with Binance's bStocks growing quickly just three months after launch.

He added that beyond this, sectors including payments, AI, agentic financial infrastructure, stablecoins, and tokenization will all see substantial development over the next decade, and this is the moment with the most opportunities in history.

Tokenization and Bitcoin Reinforce Each Other

Changpeng Zhao said that the Bitcoin blockchain currently does not host tokenization business, which primarily occurs on other blockchains. However, different sectors within the crypto industry reinforce one another—people who understand Bitcoin will eventually learn about other blockchains and tokens, while those who enter through stock tokenization will ultimately pay attention to Bitcoin as well.

He cited an example: Asians find it difficult to open brokerage accounts for US stocks, and US trading hours are inconvenient. Once stocks are tokenized, more people who previously couldn't trade US stocks will be able to participate through crypto platforms. After entering these platforms, they may also gain Bitcoin exposure they didn't have before.

Bitcoin's Relationship with Government Power

Discussing Bitcoin's relationship with state power, Changpeng Zhao said that Bitcoin itself neither weakens nor strengthens government power—what truly matters is the choices governments make. Historically, weaker governments have sometimes delivered better economic performance. For example, the US government is relatively limited in scope, yet it built one of the world's strongest economies. The current SEC, by relinquishing some regulatory authority, has allowed the industry to grow, while former chairman Gary Gensler's attempt to control everything stifled industry growth.

He stated that Bitcoin, as a decentralized technology, gives individuals more sovereignty, but its privacy design has flaws, making on-chain transactions easy to trace. Governments can choose whether to leverage these characteristics—declaring Bitcoin holdings illegal or imposing a 36% tax on every transaction would both cripple the industry. Governments may seem powerful, but 36% of zero is still zero, while a 6% tax on a trillion-dollar market represents enormous revenue.

He also noted that most governments already place relative importance on Bitcoin, yet many countries still lack crypto regulatory frameworks. Officials who understand Bitcoin remain a minority, and some countries led by older generations tend to hold more conservative attitudes. Still, he acknowledged sensing that a shift is underway, even though some people still hold the biased view that Bitcoin is primarily used by drug traffickers.

Regulatory Progress Across Countries

When advising multiple governments, Changpeng Zhao typically recommends establishing crypto regulatory frameworks, setting up crypto reserves, issuing national stablecoins, and advancing asset tokenization. Many of these countries have yet to establish crypto reserves or issue their own stablecoins, and he advises them to move forward on these fronts promptly.

He said the UAE currently has the most advanced crypto regulation, with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) having issued Binance a global license covering nearly all products—though the UAE has not yet issued a major stablecoin. The US has made significant progress in stablecoin and exchange regulation, with the CFTC advancing rapidly on federal-level futures and derivatives licensing. Japan is currently proactive, Hong Kong is moving quickly, and Singapore is relatively conservative.

He also mentioned that Pakistan's regulatory progress is relatively fast but implementation lags behind; Binance has not yet opened client fund bank accounts there or issued stablecoins. Kazakhstan is advancing rapidly, with good local banking support for Binance, and Binance Pay already supports QR code payments. He said he will visit Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan next week.

Bitcoin as a Strategic Reserve Asset

Changpeng Zhao stated that many countries misunderstand Bitcoin, viewing it as a dangerous asset. In reality, not using Bitcoin is what's more dangerous—just as not investing in AI technology is a genuine risk for a country.

Regarding strategic reserves, he said Bitcoin will certainly become more important than gold. Major countries will take time to transition, but the trend will happen—Bitcoin is simply a better asset than gold. He believes the possibility of a superior digital currency overtaking Bitcoin, or beating Bitcoin to surpass gold first, is very slim. Bitcoin will soon overtake gold, as the gap is only about 10 times currently and could close in the next bull market.

On reserve allocation advice, he said he typically recommends that countries allocate across the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding stablecoins) proportional to their market capitalization, in addition to dollar reserves. This is the simplest and most market-driven approach, with Bitcoin typically comprising over 50%, Ethereum 10%-20%, and BNB also included.

Multi-Chain Ecosystem Is Win-Win, Not Zero-Sum

Addressing whether the industry should promote only Bitcoin, Changpeng Zhao said that if the industry consisted solely of Bitcoin, overall development would be much slower. The existence of other public chains does not weaken Bitcoin—it actually helps Bitcoin grow. Without other public chains, Bitcoin would be smaller in scale.

He stated that Bitcoin has the largest market cap and highest degree of decentralization, and will serve as a reserve currency long-term. Other public chains innovate faster, and new ideas are more easily tested on other chains first before being borrowed back by Bitcoin. He emphasized that the crypto industry should adopt an open attitude, accepting the coexistence of multiple public chains, multiple exchanges, multiple DEXs, and perpetual contract platforms. This brings more competition and innovation—the industry is not a "life-or-death" zero-sum game.

Drivers of the Next Cycle Are Hard to Predict

On the drivers of the next cycle, Changpeng Zhao said that RWA (Real World Assets) and AI sectors currently show strong momentum. Stablecoins, centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, Meme coins, and other sectors that were already growing will continue to grow, and NFTs may return in some form.

He said it's difficult to predict what the next explosive point will be—just as the ICO craze couldn't be predicted in early 2017, nor the NFT boom six months before it erupted. This requires entrepreneurs to create it.

Combining AI Agents with Cryptocurrency

Changpeng Zhao stated that when billions of AI agents engage in automated buying, selling, negotiation, and trading in the future, the money they use will certainly be cryptocurrency—and will likely start with stablecoins before gradually integrating Bitcoin and other public chain assets.

He said he has discussed the possibility of issuing tokens with several top AI companies. Since building data centers requires enormous capital—1 GW of computing power costs approximately $30-50 billion—and some AI companies plan to build hundreds of GW of computing power in the coming years, issuing data center tokens could be considered, allowing holders to obtain computing power usage rights in the future.

He also noted that AI agent payment scenarios may materialize later than trading scenarios. Currently, AI companies focus more on helping agents find optimal trading solutions, and trading scenarios require AI to process information quickly, which can improve trading efficiency by about 10 times.

Bitcoin Positioned as a Savings Vehicle; Payments Will Gradually Shift to Native Tokens

Changpeng Zhao stated that whether in the human world or the AI world, Bitcoin will most likely remain primarily a savings vehicle, while stablecoins or other cryptocurrencies will handle machine-to-machine commercial and trading scenarios.

He said that as people increasingly use stablecoins for payments, many payments will transition to native cryptocurrencies in the future. This is because people who hold assets like Bitcoin long-term don't want to convert to fiat-pegged stablecoins just for payments—it adds an unnecessary step. Citing his own example, he said he typically holds BNB and Bitcoin, and when using the Binance Card, BNB is deducted directly at the prevailing exchange rate without first converting to dollars.