Chanpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, Co-Founder and largest shareholder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, believes that Hong Kong has the potential to become a hub for digital assets, if it moves quickly.
In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, CZ emphasized that the region has all the potential to rival the US and the UAE in the crypto space, but warned that regulatory inertia could hold it back.
“We shouldn’t evaluate a place’s future potential based on its current status,” CZ said. “We should assess it based on the speed of change.”
Zhao urged Hong Kong authorities to open up faster, especially by allowing more cryptocurrencies to be traded on licensed exchanges. Currently, only four, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), and Chainlink (LINK), are approved. He argued that this limited selection was “not enough,” suggesting Hong Kong adopt a model like Japan’s, where exchanges have more freedom in deciding which tokens to list.
“There’s nothing magical about what the US, the UAE, or other countries are doing,” he added. “Maybe tomorrow, there could be a meeting in Hong Kong where [officials] say, ‘Look, we’re going to change some things.'”
CZ, who also regularly advises regulators around the world, described Hong Kong’s current crypto framework as overly cautious. He shared that while he does understand this stance, he believes it could slow progress. “When going from no regulation to regulation … most regulators would tend to err on the cautious side.”
This caution is evident in Hong Kong’s new stablecoin rules, which came into effect on August 1. The regulations impose strict controls around reserves, anti-money laundering, and user verification, causing some industry hesitation.
Cz resigned as Binance CEO in 2023 after pleading guilty to US money laundering charges. He was imprisoned for four months and was released in September 2024. Despite past legal troubles he remains active in the space, focusing on mentorship and supporting BNB-Chain, an ecosystem now powering over 4,000 blockchain projects.
Though CZ holds a significant share of BNB tokens, he said he doesn’t own equity in most BNB Chain projects. He sees blockchain as still in its early days, comparing its development to the internet in 2000. He believes wider adoption will come as AI-driven tools become commonplace in daily life.
Meanwhile, despite being enthusiastic about crypto’s future, in the same interview, CZ offered a cautionary note on applying old-world terms to new technologies: “If we use an old term like ‘banking’ to describe a new industry, we need to be careful.”
