CZ, Bull Market Predictions & The Future of Binance | New CEO Richard Teng

well my sort of first experience with crypto didn't start when I met C right I started in 2017 and that's where I was in actually boka Raton attending the Futures industry Association which I go every year but that was the first year that I saw a lot of crypto boys coming true and I got quite intrigued with this new industry what exactly does it represent the more I understood it I said look I think this is the future of Finance

welcome to bankless where today we explore the frontier of binance and who is taking charge this is Ryan Sean Adams I'm here with David Hoffman and we're here to help you become more bankless CZ the co-founder of binance is gone he's serving a prison sentence right now so who is running binance these days who took over for him binance is by some measures the largest Exchange in the world it's had a crazy couple of years was fined $4 billion by the US government it founder is now spending 4 months in jail David it's it's always four isn't it it's always four binance

uh Richard Tang is the guy who's filling cz's shoes and we felt it was time to finally meet him so that is our guest on today's episode we talk about a few things number one who is Richard why is he here number two how does he plan to take binance to a billion users number three are things with us Regulators really settled like is there a blank slate number four the story of why binance execs are being forcibly held in Nigeria right now like what is going on with that and number five we end with some fun price predictions for the bull

market I enjoyed getting to know Richard here with the hour that we had with him pretty personable guy which I would also say CZ was as well and really my my question that I was trying to get asked is like is this new a new era for binance is there a before and after of CZ of binance after cz's departure or is are things going to continue on as usual I'll I'll let the listener kind of listen to the episode with Richard and decide for that but it is nice to get to know the guy who's now at the helm of like the largest crypto Empire that's

out there uh and what his plans are for the next era for for binance's growth as we enter this next crypto cycle yeah David I I certainly have my takes on on how Richard is maybe different from uh CZ and similar and what this means for the future of uh binance and I want to talk to you about that in the debrief so uh for bankless Citizens there is a debrief episode waiting for you in on your bankless premium feed if you are not a bankless citizen you don't have access to that but you can get access there's a link in the show notes uh where you can get the bankless premium feed like no ads all of the debriefs all

the goodies that David and I pack in all right guys let's get right to our episode with Richard but before we do we want to thank the sponsors that made this possible including bankless Nation I want to introduce you to Richard Tang he's the new CEO of binance which is the largest Exchange in the world he took over the role in November 2023 after the departure of binance's founder CZ who stepped down following a legal settle sement with us authorities now as of the time of recording CZ is serving a 4-month sentence in a federal prison in

California some background on Richard that David and I dug up but we're going to find out more from him today is he joined binance in August 2021 he was the CEO of binance Singapore and before that he was working in the financial regulatory World in Abu Dhabi and uh also in Singapore and I think we should save the rest of the intro for Richard because this conversation is really about getting to know him in his own words Richard welcome to bankless thanks Ryan uh thanks David it's great to be here okay so since we haven't met and I

think you are new to some in the crypto Community why don't we start could you just tell us about yourself sure I mean I have uh work for about three decades now but the first I mean until I joined binance I've essentially worked for traditional Financial firms like Singapore exchange I started my career with the Central Bank of Singapore I stayed there for 13 years doing things like licensing authorization of capital markets of banks Insurance firms Etc but I had a had a stin uh doing financial sector development trying to develop

Singapore's private sector private banking sector Asset Management uh reinsurance sector I was sent to New York for two years I stay in Battery Park City for two years to try to bring in the liks of Black Rock then into Singapore that's that's that's way back in 2001 2002 so it's a and it happened during 911 so I saw the collapse of the Twin Tower as well wow wow so I was there for 13 years uh with the central bank then I moved to Singapore exchange where I Rose to become the chief regulatory officer uh and I was there

for seven years until I was hit hunted to Abu Dhabi Global Market to become the CEO of financial services regulatory Authority so my background is essentially mainly in regulations as well as more trf in nature I have a chance meeting with CZ sometime in June of 2021 and we hit it off he convinced me to join binance starting off as CEO of Singapore uh in August 2021 and that's where I started the chance meeting tell us a little bit about that

because it is a it's always a fun story when someone who has a traditional Finance background particularly in kind of like the like the the banking world the re banking world you you were on on kind of the Central Bank side when they find their way into into crypto so what was that chance meeting like like what kind of Drew you into B and this this weird uh you know alternative Financial system that we call crypto well my sort of first experience with crypto didn't start in uh when I met CZ right I

started in 2017 and that's where I was in actually boka Raton attending the Futures industry Association which I go every year so the top honchos from exchange Global exchanges right New York Stock Exchange NASDAQ uh Ice uh uh CME Etc will go there right so I was representing Singapore exchange I went there but that was the first year that I saw a lot of crypto boys coming through and I got quite intrigued with this new industry what exactly does it represent

the more I understood it I said look I think this is the future of finance and when I was CEO of Abu Abu Global Market we became the first then almost the first in the world to start rolling out a comprehensive framework to start regulating in crypto and I tell people I'm not your traditional regulator I'm not the type of people that sort of regulate Banks without having a bank account so I got my hand dirty opening up crypto accounts started trading to get to know the industry much better so

my first exposure into crypto started in 2017 then right so I I met a lot of people I met the win of V twins from Gemini I met Jesse power from Ken at that point in time in a bit to try to attract them to set up shop in Abu Dhabi and Cen set up sh so so when I met CZ I already have background in crypto and then we sort of he was trying to SS me out he somebody introduced me right because at that point in time I just came back to Singapore from ababi having stepped down

as CEO and then somebody introduced me he was trying to S me out and then we went for lunch uh but if you remember Singapore 10 in June 2021 has restrict covid measures so we met um in a place where there's only two of us there's nobody else because we can't go to restaurant and uh that lunch lasted about two and a half hours on hindsight after I joined bance I realized how precious those two and a half hours are right because our meetings are packed 15

minutes half an hour so throughout the lunch conversation I saw him calling his secretary can you postpone my meeting so so I I think he treated it quite seriously and I he it off then and then she asked me to join violence and I started in August 2021 CZ always struck me as an incredibly energetic busy person like I can imagine uh that man's calendar was absolutely full like hopping to meeting to meeting and just like continuously on the Move continuously uh like just a very action-oriented individual Richard uh in

what you just said you said in 2017 uh you saw crypto as the future of Finance tell us a bit more about that so like why was it a that crypto was the future of Finance what exactly Drew you into that line of thinking because if you look at it you know as policy makers globally as well as as banking Regulators one of the biggest problem that we try to solve at that point in time was Financial inclusion and then we have been at it at you know for 50 years and financial

inclusion isn't get getting much better if you look at you know you are in America so you're blessed right you have high level of Financial inclusion I'm in Singapore again we have very high Financial inclusion but if you look at developing countries and frontal economies you can see Financial inclusion of between 10 and 20% meaning 80% of people in the world of of that particular economy does not have access to banking does not have access to payments remittance Etc either that or is very expensive for them right so the

more I got into blockchain and crypto I say hey look this allow people to do mittance at a fraction of the cost in an instantaneous basis compared to the traditional method I like banks that operate I don't know what's What's the timing in the US banking hours but in Singapore it's probably between what 930 to 4:00 but you know crypto is 24/7 it never sleeps it keeps working anybody can access crypto in any part of the

world on a 247 basis so there's almost no hurder rate for anybody that wish to be involved to be involved in this industry to get access to this technology and then use this technology as a mode of transfer of value right so that was very intriguing but my thesis back then and I still hold that thesis now is that for this industry to go mainstream for it to be embraced for for adoption rate to goow up you need two

things firstly you need Clarity of Regulation because you can have 5% adoption or you can even reach 10% adoption without rules and regulations but for it to hit 40 50% a lot of users would demand Clarity of rules regulations in terms of protection of their assets so that's the First Dimension that we need to see and second thing you need institutional investors coming into this space that brings in liquidity and the knowhow

structuring of new products creation of new financial instruments around around crypto right so to me those are two things that essential and the second part of it the second dimension institution investors probably wouldn't come in until they see clearer regulations right so which is why in 2017 I went about making sure that at least Abu dhab itself create a framework that is very supportive of crypto giving crypto players a chance to be properly licensed to serve users to make sure

that users assets are properly Ed to bring about that growth in terms of cpto adoption so for you the the future of Finance is very much tied in with the story of like the democratization of of finance and Banking and money and I I think we'll return to that question a little bit later in the conversation as to just like to find out uh why you're here but that's cool to to to hear um how you got in the space and sort of caught the bug uh everyone comes in from a different Vantage Point um and you're point about you're bangers right so yeah

exactly you believe in we do we do we we believe that um the intermediaries you like the big big banking systems are very ripe for to be disrupted uh and to kind of like reform around this new infrastructure that is uh evolving and emerging I mean your point about regulators and institutions is uh interesting as well it certainly depends on having the right regulation doesn't it and the regulation that doesn't slow us down but before we get into you know like some of those broader conversations I I still want to go back to maybe your

initial conversation back there in uh in Singapore for those 2 and 1 half hours with uh CZ and then what's happened since then so you CH you took the job at binance and I'm just like looking out I'm zooming out over the last two years and what an absolutely insane two years we've had I want to get in your head and and kind of hear hear what it felt like uh from your perspective but just a recap for Bank list listeners who uh you've probably lived through the Whirlwind that was you know 2022 to 2024

but like all of the craziness that happened 2022 FTX collapsed you guys remember that right this is a a major exchange a major binance competitor uh there was the CZ tweet from November 4th where he was dumping the ftt tokens all of that happened all of that chaos uh in 2023 we got charges from the US against binance including AML and sanctions violations so you were there for that uh 2024 a judge ruled that binance had to pay a $4.3 billion fee this is like one

of the largest in history uh and CZ the you know Co the founder of binance was sentenced to to four months in jail so that happened he retired and now here we are today and Richard you you have taken the lead as CEO binance is you know keeps chugging uh we've got a new bull market Bitcoin recently hit all-time highs it's like set to do that again here shortly uh the B&B token as well just hit all-time highs which I was just like surprised to to see that in the last week or so um what was all of this like I I know you can't there's some

things I'm sure you can't comment on uh some things maybe you can but like where were you when all of this was was going on and when you step back and you zoom out and uh you look at the last uh two years do you ever just like ask yourself what the heck was that what just happened yeah you know there's never a dow there right in crypto especially but maybe just to take take a step back binance is still a very young organization we are going to celebrate our 7y year anniversary next month right so imagine a 7y year old organization

and we have what 199 million users today going to hit 200 million users very soon if you look at the pace of growth uh the first 100 million users took us about five years and the next 100 million users is going to take us about two years or just likely shorter than two years and that show the pace of development and crypto adoption right so I just want to put that in context in the very early years right probably in the first five years as you mention as as you know there are no no the rules are not very clear it's at a very nent

very early stage of development so we are trying to see what we can do in terms of making sure that we satisfy the different requirements but there there are no very clear rules for us to to comply in in many of these areas right even today about one third of global Regulators are regulating crypto two3 are still not regulating this page right of the of the one3 they're regulating it is not easy because some are regulating them as Securities some treat as Commodities some treat as digital

payment token and then others have a dedicated definition of virtual assets for them and these shes are conflicting each other right Securities are are quite different from Commodities and how you regulate them and that poses a big challenge for Global platform like ourselves right so every time when we do Global when we do local deployment we have to really understand the local rules trying to find out how best to comply TW internal processes our systems operational framework to to satisfy them

so so you understand the operational robustness that we need to have especially when you operate a 247 platform on that front so yes we we were there in the midst of it uh I was there looking at it but truthly told we are very Mission focused right so we know there all these challenges coming true but our first priority has always been focusing on user focusing on user protection making sure that we serve our user needs right while we pivot the company probably in the first few years

of the company because of lack of clarity of some of these provisions and and rules uh we we make mistakes and C PID the ultimate price for some of this mistake he took accountability as you mentioned uh he retired step down from that role I'm very honored and humble uh that he and the rest of the leadership team pick me uh to be the next CEO uh so we will continue on those very strong

fundamentals and principle and we re bu a very strong company as as as you mentioned is building on those fundamentals making sure that we continue to be user focused focusing on the products and services users on continue to innovate on that front but at the same time making sure that we are compliant with all the new rules and Provisions coming true right so i' I make three commitments when I step in as CEO of bance I say look firstly we'll always be user focused user will always be at the heart of what we do that's

extremely critical because our users and our community are accountable for Success without them really this platform has no one to serve right so we are very mindful ful uh I'm very glad to go around the world meeting our users meeting our community because they give me they give me feedback they give our feedback on products and services that we need to enhance areas that we need to look into things that they want to see Etc and this include both retail as well as VIP customers right the second part

is given that the direction of travel is towards one of more compliance so we are working very closely with policy makers Regulators you mentioned good point just now to say that the regulatory framew should be Progressive should be smart right to really on one hand manage risk on the other hand support Innovation because if you have a regulatory framework that only manages the risk but doesn't support Innovation is not going to be beneficial for the economy is not

going to be beneficial for the industry and the ecosystem right it's detrimental given the importance of this industry we work very closely with global Regulators on that front to highlight to them how do we manage Risk by the same time support Innovation we have done a very successful case study in Dubai the Dubai government approach us uh in late 2021 to develop a framework to support crypto and so we came up with the framework with them and look at the huge success story that Dubai has now in terms of

attracting crypto firms crypto developers projects exchanges asset managers right so these these are things that we do globally right and then with every local jurisdiction we are very supportive of local law enforcement efforts the third commitment I have is working with crypto partners because we are still in a very early stage of crypto development 5 6% crypto adoption globally I think the recent introduction of ETF uh Bitcoin as as ether approval not

only in the US but if you look at Global jurisdiction from the likes of Hong Kong to Australia to different parts of Europe I think every everybody is pushing out in their ETF approval now so you see a mainstreaming of this industry so we are working with you know traditional financial institutions we're working with um crypto firms to really support crypto adoption and deployment because the more we can build this industry together the more robust and vibrant the ecosystem everybody benefits

and we will benefit from that so so that's my truee commitment when I step in a CEO and we will continue on that front right um some of those challenges I'm very glad that ourself and our team we have very experienced global leaders we are need together to solve all these problems together so we are on a journey to solve these problems to continue to serve our users well and continue to grow a very sustainable and vibrant platform Richard you're stepping into some pretty big shoes to fill CZ was

just this Larger than Life figure I mean he he built an Empire he built a massive cryptocurrency exchange that that blankets the globe like kind of considered by many in the industry to be just a hero for onboarding so many into the world of crypto and for building what he built and you are feeling that role uh how does that feel um I would be intimidated uh but that's why I'm a podcaster not a CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange I'm wondering just what what your sentiments or emotions are as you as you stepped into the role the very big uh the shoes that CZ has left I

think first of all no one can e and that's my view right I'm not here to replace CZ uh no one I mean he is very unique I mean he's a global leader he's a Visionary uh he he brought about binance uh in 2017 and he grow it from zero to the company that we are today right so I don't think anybody can replace him I think we have to be our own person I mean he has built such a strong foundation for us to continue that very

mandate and our mission is to support the freedom of money is to support our users globally and also binance in the first six and a half years is quite different from the binance going forward because there are few things that have changed in the landscape right firstly there's clearer regulations today compared to the Past direction of travel is quite clear uh compliance is something that everybody is looking at the global Regulators users are looking at so it's quite different as a company is also the right so started off with he

he started off with a core team of seven group to 30 and then a few hundred and then a few thousands so it's it's totally different uh company so but today binance is a company of thousands right so so managing this company require a very talented team of cor managers which we have put in place now so it's not one person driving it to me is a team effort that's driving it now also the corporate structure has change right so C used to be the CEO and

decision maker but today we have put in place a board of directors of seven right so you understand that once you have board of directors we as a management and I as CEO together with my team we're accountable to the board for corporate decisions and they are the corporate Steward they set the direction of the company and we execute and then we will change uh the direct the the execution Direction depending on the needs of the of the landscape and what is evolving in the marketplace but

crypto evolv very quickly day to day as you know right is evolving and innovating so quickly so we are on our TOS on the daily basis making sure that we're ahead of the game making sure that we know what's happening in the market we are developing the right thing we're enhancing our products and services enhancing the features to serve our users complying with The Regulators one working with Partners globally including the likes of master master card that you might have seen so uh we are doing multiple things at the same time but

it's not an individual effort right so it's a team effort we have very talented senior leaders we have very committed meter managers and also very hardcore Junior officers within the film all believing in this Mission all having the same values of being hardcore uh humble trying to add value protecting our users I'm wondering what your perspective is on whatever company uh always goes in the direction of whoever's at the helm uh and so how you

familiar you are with CZ and like the way that CZ thinks I think will answer the question of like are is binance going in the same direction that CZ would have let it or maybe that was never really the intention in the first place maybe CZ with his board of directors and advisers uh identified a North star for binance that was independent of CZ uh and when and you were also going in that same direction wondering if you can just like um familiarize us with how familiar you with you were with like cz's direction

or whether or not um CZ was actually kind of working more collaboratively with the rest of the company to define a North star for the whole company I work with CZ quite closely for two and a half years so I sort of I mean he started after Singapore he started to ask me to take care of mid East North Africa region which I'm familiar with so I took over as the region head for that particular region and that pie started to to grow to include Europe and then Asia pa Pacific and then rest of the world so I work very closely with him as as the rest of the leaders do right walk

very close easy so but a lot of his thinking are set in to the mission values and DNA of the company right so many in the company knows and he Define a lot of these things and all these are positive attribute rength so at any point in time when we make a decision CG was right clear right so does this benefit the user does this protect the users right so those are his guiding principle we making decision and those

became the guiding principle for us for all of us in bance does this protect the user is it beneficial for the user is it beneficial to the market if it is we will do so right if it doesn't no right so many of these decisions are in our view not difficult to make because it's we always try to make sure that users are protected things are beneficial to users for example uh some something very simple that started way back in 2017 2018 right so you know coins get lost

when users transfer wrongly right to wrong addresses and it happens all the time and it may not be intended for our wallets or their wallets with binance but we took effort to try to trace back those and then pass back to users and that was unheard of that way back then so that is a demonstration of how far we go to safeguard users interest we were the first to came up with a safuan right to protect users in case uh there's anything un TOS in terms of cyber attacks or cyber security and so you can

see the psyche of the organization is one that let's Place user interest first to make sure that we treat the users right and then they'll treat us right which is why we have such a strong Community globally right people believe in us so this trust is not built over 6 months or one year is built consistently through our action over the course of seven years right till now and we will continue to make sure that we maintain that confidence and Trust of our users so this is um you're saying this is part of the DNA that that CZ has left

in binance and how binance has followed through on that what about Richard's DNA what DNA will you add to the binance organization now that you're at the helm well I think is I'm standing on a shoulder of giant I'm building off um what the giant has has built but we will need to continue to Pivot towards being a regulated entity globally right so we spend a lot of time effort on that front uh working with global regulators and you see that in terms of C things like corporate structure he has moved from

when C step down to what we have today in terms of having a board directors having the different subcommittees within directors in the form and format that Regulators are much more familiar level right so we'll continue to gravitate towards that uh because that's the direction in which this industry is growing and we we need to move to the times we need to move to the times in terms of what our our users want so the what the users want today will be quite different from last year so we have WR

things like Tri party Arrangement uh with some of our corporate clients and with financial institutions right um retail investors web tree was a new innovation from us this is something that they wanted enhancing our copy trading feature allowing them to do mock trading as well so these are things that we will continue to make sure that we innovate on on that front so again is continue to Pivot towards being a fully regulated Global financial institutions

making sure that we buildt a very robust Enterprise that's sustainable that's going to go from strength to strength for the next 50 years not only Built for the last seven years so these are things that we are working on tirelessly on a daily basis a 50-year vision is uh pretty impressive and I I can't wait to see where crypto is should be 50 years and Beyond right yeah absolutely I I mean I think that would make all of us uh like pretty pretty old men by that time but ready to pass the

then just you know just on a personal note while we were talking about CZ I was I was just kind of like wondering uh how's he doing like when when's the last time you talked to him what's uh what's his mental state I talked to him about uh after after the sentencing right uh CZ is extremely strong individual right and I mean if you if you know him he's extremely down to earth extremely humble person very personable very Charming um but he also is a very calm

person under any circumstances right so he has a very strong state of mind I think that we we have been through a lot you mentioned several episodes in the last few years right but what you know are only public events there are a lot of things happening that on a day-to-day basis but he has always have very Cal demeanor he makes decision in extremely logical fashion and it he took it full responsibility for it full accountability for it we all respect him

for that on that front uh so he's looking forward um to to it and serving and exiting day I know yeah I know he's left crypto uh and uh you like is surveying this sentence I I I for one uh would love to have him back on Bank list just for kind of like a crypto exit interview uh when he's done with that it's got to be just a surreal experience for him but uh let's talk about more about binance and and kind of the future so uh incredibly