CZ: Criticizes competitors' "immature" attacks, Greek visa rejection is a lose-lose, his most indispensable AI is Kimi

Original link: The Starting Block：CZ Interview

Original compilation: CryptoLeo（@LeoAndCrypto）

Editor's note: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) recently gave an interview to The Block podcast in Dubai, where he spoke candidly about sensitive topics such as the inside story of Elon Musk's $500 million investment, regulatory turmoil in Greece, and his firsthand account of survival in prison. He admitted to his past approach of "rather asking for forgiveness than permission," reflecting that if he could do it over, he would "directly block all US users." He asserted that crypto is the future of money, predicting Bitcoin could hit $1 million by 2033. He also revealed that his most-used AI is the free version of Kimi, simply because "I've used up my paid quota." From a workaholic who clocked 21-hour days to an industry driver now "seizing the day," CZ's transformation and steadfastness are captured in this exclusive dialogue.

1. Seizing the Day, Crypto Remains Core and Future

Q: Let's start with you and Musk. You've never met him, yet you invested $500 million in his acquisition of X. Why spend so much money?

CZ: To achieve financial freedom, you first need freedom of speech. X is a very important platform for free speech. While $500 million is a lot, it's only about 1% of Musk's total acquisition cost of $44 billion. I'm glad a crypto company could contribute to free speech. There were some twists and turns in this investment. I initially expected the deal to close in May 2022, but it ended up closing in October. At that time, many people said X wasn't worth $44 billion. I felt we should support a capable entrepreneur, and the outcome has been quite good.

Q: Why haven't you met Musk? Were there opportunities that didn't materialize?

CZ: We don't actively avoid each other; our schedules are just very tight. Even regarding that $500 million investment, I only exchanged about a dozen messages with him. On average, we might send each other a few messages a year. We're both busy, though I'm less busy now.

I think our mindset is: We only meet when there's a need to.

Q: I find X's development over the past year very interesting. There's a trend towards X native payments. What do you think the future of social payments looks like?

CZ: Most payment solutions are confined to specific countries, like Stripe and PayPal in the US; WeChat and Alipay in China. They are segmented by country. I hope X can overcome this.

Cryptocurrency might be the first payment technology to break borders. When X announced X Money, I did talk to Musk. I sent him a message on X: Can we be partners? He said X Money is handling all fiat currencies, so they wouldn't touch crypto. But I do hope X can become a global platform – money should be global; there's no reason to segment it by country. You can have your own monetary policy, but use a global currency. I really hope X can achieve this. And crypto isn't trying to take a piece of the existing payment pie; we all want better services to make the industry bigger. Humanity should be able to transact and do business globally.

Q: Speaking of you and Musk, Musk might be the most influential person in the world. Do you aspire to be the most influential person in crypto? What do you want to be remembered for?

CZ: Wealth rankings aren't important. I don't want to compete with Musk or anyone else, and I don't care much about how I'm remembered. Regarding this question, it's probably about looking back at the end of my life and being able to say to myself, "I did my best." I always say that, which also means I should have done more if possible.

So I'm in a phase now where I help other founders; not leading, but being an enabler. I think Musk is incredible; he drives so many difficult companies and projects. He deserves to be the richest person in the world.

In that regard, I'm different from him. Binance is a lucky and successful platform. We've helped over 300 million users globally. Many users write me thank-you letters. That's a great achievement. In the next phase, I just want to help other founders. The future, we'll see.

Q: Beyond Giggle Academy and Yzi Labs, do you have bigger plans? What's your main focus now?

CZ: I actually divide my time into four core parts:

• Giggle Academy;
• Yzi Labs investments;
• Advising other governments on crypto regulation (this probably takes up most of my time);
• Helping other founders in the crypto ecosystem.

These things take up my time. I don't make big plans; things move too fast. Five or ten years is too long; I seize the day. I just focus on what's important in the next few months, what I should do, allocate my time, and adjust every few months.

I think people's mindsets change over time. I worked really hard running Binance for about six or seven years, working 20 to 21 hours a day, taking 20 to 30 calls, attending various other meetings. It was very meaningful but also very exhausting; you need a healthy body. But now, helping other founders, I focus on broader things, learning about biotech, AI, etc.

Crypto is my core. Money won't disappear, and crypto technology won't disappear either. Although many people have recently shifted to AI, crypto will persist. AI needs funding, and they will adopt crypto.

2. Rather Asking for Forgiveness Than Permission

Q: You just launched your new book with many anecdotes, maybe unknown things. But I want to go deeper into the founding of Binance. A small group built a high-performance platform, used BNB as an incentive for trading. The year I first interviewed you, Binance's volume surpassed all other exchanges. Maybe you didn't expect such rapid growth. What's your secret to success?

CZ: First, you need to get the fundamentals right: a strong team and a truly good product. We were lucky. Binance occupied a product niche others hadn't, like rapid growth during the 2017 ICO boom. Then the market changed—DeFi craze, NFT craze, etc.—but we stayed ahead.

A fundamental principle is how we protect users. Even in the early unlicensed, unregulated days, running an exchange, users need to know you're protecting them. For a crypto exchange, every policy and decision affects people's fund security, with or without regulations or licenses. I think this is key to why many people chose Binance.

I can give countless examples of Binance making decisions that hurt its short-term finances but protected users. Users reciprocated Binance by staying, trading happily, paying small fees that generated more revenue over time than what a platform gets from occasional trades.

When China forced some projects to exit the market, we had to return fiat to users. Binance used $6 million of its then $15 million in funds to refund users, using 40% of its reserves at once. These examples of protecting users are mentioned in my book, though many details aren't fully described.

Users check our reserve accounts, understand our decisions. They know we always put users first. In the long run, this is key to Binance's growth. Many other platforms can copy your products, technology, or other things, but when it comes to financial decisions, they are always short-sighted.

Q: You've been under strict regulatory scrutiny for years. Regarding Binance's US penalties and your imprisonment, from an outsider's perspective, you quickly decided to pay the fine and go to the US. Any reason for that? Any regrets or things you'd change?

CZ: Looking back, there are things I could change, but information was limited at the time. "To succeed, you must take risks. I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission." I learned this from Richard Branson's books. He wrote about six or seven books, all touching on the topic of "losing virginity" (Odaily note: "Losing virginity" guides people to dare to take risks and challenge traditions; each new adventure is a step into the unknown, full of tension, excitement, risk, and uncertainty.)

The US government accused me of not following rules, but I'm a rule-follower in life. My thinking often goes outside the box, but I never truly broke the rules. Crypto is a new industry. Everything I did was more about following the technical path.

Thinking back, what I'd change is this: if I were building a platform now, without a license I would directly block all US users. With a license, I'd go the proper route. I think this is an obvious area for change. Besides that, there are many other mistakes, most of which can be self-corrected.

Flying to the US to handle the charges was just to get it over with. It was really painful. I didn't expect to end up in prison. No one goes to prison for a single violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. The worst case would be a few months of home confinement, meaning I could still go online; I don't go out much anyway. But the result was more severe than I anticipated. Still, I got through it.

Q: Most people would be very scared and unsettled about going to prison. What was your experience like?

CZ: It was just filled with uncertainty, the anticipation of not knowing what would happen. As I said before, no one can exactly tell you what prison is like before you go. Just in the US, there are many different prisons. Statistically, there are 53 different prison systems in the US, varying by state, each with different levels. Each city, each prison holds two to three thousand people, like a small city. They have their own rules. No one can tell you exactly what it's like inside. This uncertainty is always very worrying.

Moreover, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, etc., reported that I would become the richest person ever to be imprisoned in the US. My lawyer told me I'd likely be a primary extortion target. I entered prison with that expectation.

Once you're inside, you wonder when you'll get out. Will they give me more trouble? Will other things keep you there? The uncertainty is really, really concerning.

Q: I remember hearing anecdotes about prison guards asking you if they should buy Bitcoin, etc. Your lawyers warned you to be careful. Were you ever extorted?

CZ: In fact, I was never extorted. I joined a group very soon after entering prison.

My prison consultant (a former warden) told me: "CZ, don't go, don't join a group, stay silent. That's the best way to avoid trouble." But another prison consultant who had actually been incarcerated told me: "You need to join a group quickly for protection. Staying alone will get you bullied." Once you're in prison, you have no choice but to join a group.

I joined a group called Pacific Islanders, which was only half Asian. There was also a larger group called Mexicans, mostly drug lords, all Mexican.

Once you join a group, it does provide some protection, so people don't start trouble. If there's a dispute, they negotiate through group representatives. So I wasn't extorted. But people did ask: "Hey, I hear you're rich. How much money do you have?" I'd just laugh it off: "I don't know what you're talking about. What money?"

Q: A few weeks ago, you revealed a $2 million donation to Prison Professor. Is this because of your prison experience? You learned that most of them need to reintegrate into society, and you want to help?

CZ: Yes, more specifically, Prison Professor was founded by Michael Santos. He was one of my prison consultants. He was sentenced to 45 years for a first-time drug trafficking offense – murder sentences are at most 10 years. He served only 26 years for good behavior. After his release, he was very sympathetic to my case and offered to help. Michael founded and runs Prison Professor, helping incarcerated people receive education before release and reintegrate into society. He wrote six books while in prison and earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree. He got married when he still had 10 years left on his sentence. Prisons mostly handle divorces; they don't know how to process marriages.

Michael gave me a lot of advice on surviving prison. After I got out, I looked at his project. It's a great project. I give him about $500,000 every six months. I've done four transfers, totaling $2 million.

We kept it quiet until two weeks ago when he wanted to make it public, as it's more inspiring for other inmates. The actual person running this project is an ex-convict and a crypto participant.

He also asked me if he could introduce crypto education into prisons. I agreed. He copied a lot of content from Binance Academy into his educational materials. I think that's great because in prison, you can't learn about AI, blockchain, or crypto, and you don't even have internet access. Many people released don't even know how to use a smartphone. Many who've been inside for 10 or 20 years can't find jobs after release. What do they do? They re-offend. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Having been in prison, I feel a significant portion of people shouldn't be there. The legal and judicial systems aren't perfect. When Michael was released, drugs were legal in most states. So the crime he committed is now completely legal.

For others who ask me for money, I think, I don't know if this person is a scammer. But I felt good about Michael, so I support his cause. It makes me feel comfortable. Also, he has some financial means himself and donates his own money to charity or Prison Professor. I think being able to help him is a very good thing.

Q: In your book, you also mention OKCoin and your experience there. I know you don't want to go into detail, but OKX founder Star has been publicly attacking Binance and you personally. I just want to hear your side of the story. Your experience at OKCoin, how you parted ways. Was it amicable? How do you view this situation now?

CZ: He Yi and I both worked at OKCoin in 2014. I left in early 2015. I thought we parted on amicable terms. After I left, there was a dispute between Star and Roger Ver over the bitcoin.com domain name. I was dragged into it. I issued a disclaimer and didn't participate.

A few years later, He Yi and I, along with other co-founders, started Binance. We became very successful. From then on, we focused on business. For others, there might be some personal psychological imbalance.

I always advise the team to focus on their own business. We build the best products, provide the best user protection, design the best compliance programs, and work with regulators worldwide to advance crypto. That's what we do. Many are jealous of our success. It's okay to be jealous of me, but attacking competitors is a bit childish, so I usually don't respond.

Regarding my personal life, I've been officially divorced for many years. Matters not related to users or business shouldn't be the focus. Focusing on providing users with the best products makes the industry better.

Now I care more about other competitors who focus on their own products.

3. Europe Needs Crypto, Rejecting Binance's License is a Lose-Lose

Q: For years, many in the industry have accused Binance of various regulatory and compliance deficiencies. Weeks ago, an anonymous source told me that ECB President Christine Lagarde was involved in the decision for Greece to block Binance's MiCA application, which Greece was initially prepared to approve. Binance has now explicitly withdrawn its application in Greece and will try via another member state. Does facing regulatory hurdles in another major jurisdiction give you a bit of PTSD?

CZ: Yes, I got the same information as you. No direct information suggests Lagarde blocked anything. I did ask the Binance team about the MiCA process. What I learned is that at least one or two regulators told us they were about to approve, but other policies and factors were at play. In fact, two countries wanted to grant Binance the MiCA license; they wanted Binance to set up and boost the economy. But there were indeed other factors opposing the license. Binance eventually reviewed the situation and withdrew its MiCA application. As a stakeholder, I hope Binance gets along with regulators and obtains the license. It won't be a smooth process.

Binance has faced challenges in many countries before, like Japan. Japan warned Binance as early as 2018. But by 2022, Bin