Binance:Richard Teng在台北区块链周的谈话要点

Key Takeaways

• On December 14, 2023, Binance CEO Richard Teng had a fireside chat at Taipei Blockchain Week.

• Some of the questions that interest Richard the most are about his personal experience, the future of cryptocurrency adoption, and the role of the Binance community.

• As Binance continues its new chapter, our commitment to our users remains our most important focus. We are also shifting to become a compliance-led organization, combining these two priorities to ensure a strong, sustainable future.

Here is a summary of Richard Teng's answers to some of the questions during his talk at Taipei Blockchain Week on December 14, 2023. Please note that this article has been edited for the sake of length and clarity.

About becoming a CEO

What does your new role mean for Binance, and what changes can we expect from this transition?

Richard: First of all, I'm very honored. CZ, the leadership team and the rest of my staff trust me to lead this very important team. I take this responsibility very seriously. Our user base continues to grow. We now have over 167 million users worldwide, and that number is growing rapidly.

I made three commitments at the beginning of my tenure. First of all, adhere to the user-centric. Over the past six years, this has made us the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Going forward, this will continue to drive us forward. User protection is sacrosanct, and we take this very seriously.

Second, work with global regulators to uphold industry standards. The direction in which cryptocurrencies are headed is clear: you will see more regulation. Third, I want to work closely with global and local partners to embrace Web3 and drive cryptocurrency adoption. The more our ecosystem is built, the better life will be for everyone.

Personal journey

How did one go from being a regulator in Singapore to the current CEO of Binance, and what did you learn along the way?

Richard: I'm not the traditional regulator you might think. Even during my time at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), I was involved in developing Singapore as a financial services hub. For me, it's two-dimensional. You have to make sure you manage risk while supporting growth. If you only focus on risk management, you won't be able to support very dynamic growth. The balance between the two is very important.

In the early part of my career, I was fortunate as I was involved in developing Singapore into a financial centre, building wealth management, asset management, insurance divisions, our exchange, etc. I have first-hand experience of how to handle these things properly. At the time I was working at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and I was later poached by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) as CEO.

Once again, I had the opportunity to build a new financial center, which was not easy. I'm responsible for both the business development and the regulatory side of things, and how to strike a balance between the two. In 2017, I became one of the first regulators in the world to try cryptocurrency, and I said, "This is going to be the future of finance." ”

For crypto to gain mainstream adoption, you need two things. First, you need clear regulations. If the rules are transparent, the industry will know how to operate and users will gain confidence. Second, with clear regulation, you'll be bringing in institutional investors, which is important. They bring new assets, liquidity, users, products, and research, which is important for the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.

On regulatory cooperation

What are the biggest challenges to regulatory cooperation, and how should the industry respond?

Richard: In addition to internal stakeholders, there are three key external stakeholders that you have to engage with. First and foremost, your policymakers and regulators. Secondly, your partner. Third, your users – if no one uses a platform, then you're nothing. For the first group, I would say that there is still a knowledge gap in understanding crypto technology and its potential. These are conversations that we have on a global scale. When many jurisdictions want to start regulating cryptocurrency, they come to us – there is a knowledge gap here.

Traditional media still associate cryptocurrencies and blockchain with scams and illicit funding. However, if you look at the data, the amount of illicit money flowing through cryptocurrencies is only a small fraction of what flows through fiat channels. Cryptocurrency is a traceable technology that is easier to track than fiat currencies. The charm of this technology is obvious.

We have conducted a number of courses for law enforcement agencies and regulators. Last year, we held a course for law enforcement agencies in Taiwan. This is part of our educational work and collaboration. We want to debunk some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding crypto to build this industry in a stronger and more vibrant way.

About institutional adoption

Over the past year, we've seen many institutional players embrace cryptocurrency. Do you think this will trigger the next wave of mass adoption? Where do we stand in this area now?

Richard: Even from 2017 onwards, my argument has always been that you need two dimensions to come into play in order to achieve mass adoption. First of all, what we're seeing now is clear regulation, so the momentum is accelerating. Second, we're seeing strong momentum in institutional adoption. The top 100 financial institutions, and even local financial institutions, are increasingly interested.

I believe that the financial backbone of the next two or three decades will be built on blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). These will be the trends of the future – and it's an undeniable trend. Technology will continue to improve itself, including cryptography. We're going to see a lot of exciting use cases and projects, and it's going to get even stronger. It took us quite a bit of time to go from 1% to 5%, but from 5% to 10% or 20%, it took even less. As institutions join, there will be new pools of money, liquidity, users, research, products, etc., and adoption will be much faster.

About Binance Web3 Wallet:

How important is the Binance Web3 wallet in the broader Binance ecosystem, and what can we expect from it next year?

Richard: We're constantly innovating in different user areas, and the Binance Web3 wallet is one of them. It allows people to access Web3 through a simple interface. One of the main challenges facing Web3 is UI/UX. Our Web3 wallet solves many of these problems. This makes it very secure, easy to use, and easy to access. We will continue to innovate.

Recently, we launched a partnership with institutional and VIP traders – a three-party agreement that allows our traders to customise with financial institutions and offset some of their counterparty risk. We will continue to experiment with different things to meet the needs of the community, users, and institutions. We look forward to all of these partnerships and all the important feedback from the community. I love speaking to our community because every time we do that, it makes us think, "What else can we do better?"

About the Binance community

What are your thoughts on the Binance community, and how can Binance use its power to attract more people and create a better experience for everyone?

Richard: For a while, the U.S. problem was cloudy for us. Over the past two years, there have been a number of potential partners who have been on the sidelines and have not established a partnership with us. Now that we've worked out these historical issues with U.S. agencies, we have a number of partners lined up to participate in Web3 and crypto with us.

Our user base has always been strong and has never abandoned us. It is very important that they always have trust and confidence in us. After addressing this issue in the U.S., our user base continues to grow rapidly and is now at 167 million. After the U.S. resolution, net inflows were very strong. Users continue to have trust and confidence in us. Our community supports us, and that makes us strong.

We care a lot about our community, our users, and their feedback. We will continue to do so. As I mentioned, we're a user-centric organization – that's not going to change. However, we will also move to become a compliance-led organization, managing both of these aspects to make us sustainable and prosperous for the next 60 years.