Dialogue with CZ: Don’t think about quitting crypto. If I had to start over, I would still build an exchange.

Compiled & Translated by: TechFlow (Deep Tide)

Guest: CZ (Changpeng Zhao), Binance Founder & former CEO

Host: Jacquelyn Melinek, Talking Tokens Podcast (Strata Media)

Podcast Source: Talking Tokens Podcast

Original Title: Binance Founder CZ on what it took to build the world's largest crypto exchange and stay #1

Release Date: July 16, 2026

Disclaimer: CZ is the founder and major shareholder of Binance. The content of this episode involves general trends in the crypto industry and the development of the Binance platform, so the viewpoints presented inevitably carry a certain bias.

Key Takeaways

As Binance celebrates its ninth anniversary, CZ gave a brief interview with Talking Tokens at a Binance event. He reflected on the rough state of the exchange industry when he started in 2017, admitting that his biggest blind spots at the time were legal compliance and international politics. Binance reached the top spot globally just five months after its launch, which CZ attributes to product experience, user protection, and the luck of riding the ICO wave.

The most forward-looking part of the interview lies in the intersection of AI and crypto. CZ predicts that AI agents will begin making payments for humans within months, not years, and that cryptocurrency is the "native currency" for AI agents. He also believes that crypto penetration, measured by wealth, is less than 1%, and the industry's biggest misconception is treating crypto as a speculative asset rather than an underlying technology. After stepping down as CEO, CZ admits he missed the rise of stablecoins and is now spending significant time researching RWAs and tokenization.

Highlight Reel

On Startup Retrospective

• "I would tell my younger self: spend more time learning compliance and politics. Before 2017, I was just a tech guy, focused on building products and protecting users, but I underestimated the importance of the legal side."
• "The second piece of advice is to move faster. Binance didn't launch futures contracts until two years after going live. If I could do it again, I would do it much sooner."
• "We reached number one globally in the first five months, and we've held that position every day since."

On Community

• "If you treat the community well, they will follow you to the ends of the earth."
• "A company can be attacked by regulations, laws, and geopolitics, but the community is almost immune to these. The community will even fight back for you."

On Crypto Perception

• "People see crypto as a speculative asset, always thinking about when to exit. You don't exit the internet. You don't exit AI. Crypto is the same; it's a technology."
• "By wealth, the penetration rate of crypto is probably less than 1%. The market is far from saturated."

On AI × Crypto

• "AI will eventually handle payments for us. AI can find the best hotels and flights now, but it can't make the booking for you yet. That capability is coming within months, definitely not years."
• "Once AI starts transacting, it needs a native currency. Credit cards are too clumsy; cryptocurrency is the natural choice."
• "Crypto payments are the biggest unlock for AI. Other things, like verifying training data, are still a long way off."

On Security

• "AI will completely change the security landscape. It can find vulnerabilities, which is useful for both developers and hackers. In the short term, there might be some attacks, but in the long run, systems will become more secure."
• "Anthropic's latest Methuselah model is incredibly powerful. I hope there's a version soon that developers can use to harden their systems."

On Financial Integration

• "There shouldn't be a separation between crypto finance and traditional finance. It's like saying snail mail and email are two separate systems. In the end, there's only one financial system."
• "Which country doesn't want to open its stock market to the world? Tokenization is just a matter of time."

Main Content

Looking Back Nine Years: The Exchanges of 2017 Weren't Good Enough

Jacquelyn Melinek: This year is Binance's ninth anniversary. Before founding Binance, you also worked at large exchanges. Looking back at the market in 2017 and your state of mind then, what problems in the exchange industry did you think were not being solved well, forcing you to go out and build one yourself?

CZ: My entire career before starting the company was in order execution and exchange systems. Looking at the exchange industry in 2017, I felt the product could be better, the technology could be better, the matching engine could be faster, security could be higher, and customer service could be more thorough. Exchanges at that time didn't truly put the user first. I thought there was definitely room for improvement. Of course, we also got lucky and rode the wave of the ICO boom.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Do you think the CZ of 2017 and the CZ of 2026 are the same person?

CZ: *Laughs.* No. A lot older, but not necessarily wiser. I've been through more challenges, let's put it that way. A lot has happened in nine years; the mindset and the body are different.

Jacquelyn Melinek: If you could give one piece of advice to your 2017 self, what would it be?

CZ: Knowing what I know now, I would tell my younger self: spend more time learning legal compliance and politics. Before 2017, I was just a tech person, focused on building products and protecting users, but I underestimated the importance of the legal side. I also didn't understand international law well enough; I didn't know that some US laws have global jurisdiction and long lookback periods. That's the first piece of advice I would give myself.

The second piece of advice is to move faster. There were many products I hesitated to launch. Looking back, entrepreneurs should push products to market earlier to get feedback. For example, Binance's futures contracts weren't launched until two years after going live. If I could do it again, I would do it much sooner.

Reaching the Top in Five Months: Product, Mission, and a Bit of Luck

Jacquelyn Melinek: Binance surpassed dozens of exchanges and reached the top very quickly. Was that in the first year or the second?

CZ: The first year. We reached number one globally in the first five months, and we've held that position every day since.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Reaching the top is one thing; staying there is hard. What do you attribute that to?

CZ: A company's success has many factors. The product has to be good, customer service has to be good, and more importantly, you need a mission. Our mission is to increase the freedom of money, and one of our core values is protecting users. Protecting users helped us hold the number one position after getting there.

Of course, there was also an element of luck in 2017. That was the year of ICOs. We were a new exchange that natively supported ICO listings very quickly. Most other exchanges were still Bitcoin-only exchanges; some of the largest US exchanges at the time didn't even have Ethereum. We hit an inflection point in the industry. But the competition was fierce too; Bittrex and Poloniex were giants back then. We had a good product, good service, and good user protection. You need all these elements.

Community is More Resilient than a Company

Jacquelyn Melinek: Binance's ninth-anniversary theme is "Built by You." How would you describe the community culture you aimed to create?

CZ: Nine years ago, crypto was a very niche industry. When we started, Bitcoin was around two or three thousand dollars. The user base was small, but very loyal, all early adopters who knew the product inside out. They knew we protected them, so they followed their hearts and their money.

As the community grew, Binance consistently protected users through its actions. Many volunteers contribute to the Binance ecosystem. Some are called Binance Angels; some don't have an official title. The entire platform is truly community-driven. 'Built by You' is exactly that.

Jacquelyn Melinek: You've said that the community is sometimes more resilient than a company. What can the community do that a company cannot?

CZ: If you treat the community well, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. A company can face various attacks, especially a centralized company, from regulators, laws, and geopolitics. The community is almost immune to such attacks because it is distributed, and in our case, global. It's very hard to launch an effective attack on a globally distributed community. The community will also fight back for you, often with a louder voice on social media than mainstream media. The community has immense power that can be mobilized.

Crypto Penetration is Less Than 1%: The Biggest Misconception is Treating Technology as Speculation

Jacquelyn Melinek: In today's market, what makes a product that keeps users coming back?

CZ: Products in any industry can be improved. Fiat on-ramps and off-ramps are still very friction-heavy today. Whoever can achieve lower fees, lower friction, and cover more regions will have an advantage.

Stablecoins are another example. The most popular ones don't pay interest to users, and the ones that do aren't very tradeable. If there were a stablecoin that offers good interest and is freely tradeable, that would be an improvement. RWA tokenization is still very new. Only a handful of stocks are truly tokenized, and they are mostly US-centric. Why wouldn't other countries want to tokenize their stock markets and allow global participation? By wealth, the penetration rate of crypto is probably less than 1%. We are still in the early stages.

Jacquelyn Melinek: We've been talking about the "next billion users" for years, but we haven't even reached the first billion yet. What do you think is the industry's biggest misconception about mainstream adoption?

CZ: Many people treat crypto as a speculative asset, rather than an underlying technology. They buy Bitcoin and are always thinking about when to exit. You don't exit the internet. You don't exit AI. Crypto is the same; it's a technology. Crypto blockchain is here to stay. It's one of the three foundational technologies in my life, the other two being the internet and AI. I advise people to look at the long-term prospects of projects.

AI Agent Payments: Coming Within Months

Jacquelyn Melinek: Where will the worlds of AI and crypto truly converge?

CZ: AI will eventually handle payments for us. AI can find the best hotels and flights for you now, but it can't make the booking. That capability is coming within months, definitely not years. Once AI starts transacting for people, it needs a native currency. Credit cards are too clumsy; cryptocurrency is the natural choice.

Traditional fiat payments work okay domestically, but cross-border payments are very poor. You will see more and more global citizens who need to pay people on the other side of the planet, need to book tickets in different regions. Crypto payments are much more convenient. Crypto payments are the biggest unlock for AI. Other uses, like using blockchain for training data verification, are still a long way off. AI companies are big, profitable, and highly valued; they won't care much about decentralization for a while.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Do you see crypto payments as a near-term thing, or three to five years out?

CZ: I'd guess one to two years. Once people start using AI to pay via crypto, they will find it's much faster. Also, the early adopters in the crypto space and the early adopters in AI have a very high overlap.

AI Changes the Security Landscape: Use the Strongest Models to Harden Systems

Jacquelyn Melinek: How does AI impact Binance's internal operations and crypto infrastructure?

CZ: I see AI like the internet. Can you say you don't use the internet? That's probably not a good idea. Every company, every individual should utilize AI to its fullest, but also not abuse it. AI is very good at helping people write code, find bugs, do code analysis, and is also useful in design and video. But don't let AI do everything. We live in a human world, and people still want a human touch. AI is good in terms of creativity, but original creativity is still stronger in humans.

Jacquelyn Melinek: Besides payments, where else will AI change crypto?

CZ: AI will completely change the security landscape. AI is extremely good at finding vulnerabilities. Developers can use it to quickly discover system weaknesses. Anthropic's latest Methuselah model is incredibly powerful. I hope there's a version soon that developers can use to harden their systems. There will likely be some hacks in the short term, but in the long run, systems will become much more secure.

Also, blockchain throughput isn't high enough yet. We need faster, higher-capacity chains to lower usage costs. AI will play a big role in accelerating this development. There's another more fundamental trend: AI will push us into a more digital world, ten or even a hundred times deeper than what the internet has achieved. The more digital we become, the more we need digital currencies. The concept of paper money is outdated. AI will push us past that tipping point.

Perspective from Stepping Down: Missed Stablecoins, Now Focused on RWA

Jacquelyn Melinek: You've moved from CEO to a different role now. Have you gained