Behind Bloomberg Chinese's apology to Changpeng Zhao and Binance: The crypto industry's "Exodus from Egypt"

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2024-07-17 23:23Posted in Beijing, creators in the field of science and technology

In addition to finally waiting for the public apology and justice of the Chinese edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, Binance has also received good news in other events in recent months. 

Author/wordless 

Produced by/New Pick Business Review 

On July 17, Bloomberg Businessweek Chinese issued a statement publicly apologizing to Changpeng Zhao and the organization he founded, Binance, saying that it had made a serious mistake in its 250th issue (July 6, 2022). 

"[The magazine] published a false and unsubstantiated cover headline that erroneously reads "Changpeng Zhao's Ponzi scheme", and for this reason, "This magazine unreservedly retracts and retracts this offensive statement, apologizes to Changpeng Zhao and Binance, and will not publish or make any further allegations of the same or similar in any way." ” 

In response, Binance said it was pleased to see that the false accusations have been dropped, and will continue to focus on providing users with the best service and innovation, while striving to set an example and ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the industry. 

In addition to finally waiting for the public apology and justice of the Chinese edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, Binance has also received good news in other events in recent months. On June 29, in a ruling in United States federal court, a judge rejected several key claims by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ruling that the SEC failed to allege facts that showed that the sale of BNB tokens on the secondary market by a cryptocurrency exchange was a securities transaction. 

From the perspective of the industry, this judgment is not just for Binance, but also acknowledges that there are significant restrictions on the SEC's regulatory authority over the crypto industry – and with it, a clearer and more predictable regulatory environment for the crypto industry, which undoubtedly boosts the industry's confidence and hopefully drives its further development. 

For the head cryptocurrency companies that have stood on the cusp of public opinion again and again, as more truths and details surface, cryptocurrencies are accelerating destigmatization, and through Changpeng Zhao and other "specific people", the public can see more of the underlying logic of Binance and other companies. For Binance and other top players, after experiencing the darkest moment, they are constantly coming out of the swamp and ushering in the stability and vastness after the "aftermath of the catastrophe". 

1. Reconciliation and stage victory:

Cryptocurrencies are accelerating out of the swamp

For a long time, the stigmatized cryptocurrency industry has faced a "broken window effect" in the field of public opinion: among them, the spread of rumors and disinformation is one of the cancers in the industry ecology, which not only damages the reputation of relevant companies and individuals, but also aggravates the stereotype of the entire industry from the outside world. 

Now, Bloomberg Businessweek's Chinese public apology to CZ and Binance has once again attracted widespread attention and discussion – which has led to more public attention and understanding of cryptocurrencies and their regulatory issues, as well as a gradual increase in awareness and acceptance of the cryptocurrency industry. 

Under the public's gaze, Binance, which had previously trekked through the desert and experienced all kinds of unknown tribulations, has now stepped out of the darkest hour and seen the dawn of "Canaan". 

On the one hand, it is to continuously destigmatize, and on the other hand, to reach a settlement with regulators, solve historical problems, and jointly drive industry compliance. Following Binance's settlement with United States regulators at the end of 2023, on April 30, Changpeng Zhao formally accepted the verdict in United States Seattle Federal Court and was sentenced to 4 months in prison. In the eyes of the industry, the result of the sentence is better than market expectations, which means that the relevant historical issues have been solved and "turned the page". 

This is also in line with Binance's consistent attitude — Binance co-founder He Yi previously mentioned in an interview with Bloomberg that the differences between Binance and regulators may not be that big, and Binance is far from the villain that critics have described. He Yi said that respecting the attitude of regulators, the trend of regulation is inevitable in the world: "I understand that the overall intention of regulation is to protect investors. ” 

It is based on the shared goal of "protecting users" and the vision of promoting the industry for better that Binance and regulators continue to move towards reconciliation rather than saber-rattling confrontation. At the same time, Binance has continued to receive positive feedback: on June 29, the court rejected several key claims of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and rejected the SEC's arguments. 

In the eyes of the industry, this is expected to accelerate regulatory clarity and line clarity, allowing the giant "Boeing 747" of cryptocurrencies to land smoothly after experiencing turbulent air currents. 

Looking at the development history of the global financial industry, many leading financial institutions have experienced huge fines of tens of billions, and use this as a watershed to move from recklessness and youth to maturity, which is an inevitable "rite of passage" for Binance, the largest exchange in the cryptocurrency industry and the benchmark in the industry. 

As Pan and Linzeng, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University International Business School, analyzed, from the perspective of anti-money laundering and compliance, institutions need to make transactions more transparent and involve the government in transaction supervision, and there is no other way. 

Binance CEO Richard Teng is also pleased to say that after reaching a settlement with United States regulators, it is a favorable development situation for Binance. 

"For some time, I have been communicating with a large number of institutional investors, users, VIP clients and potential partners. In fact, there has been a very positive attitude towards our reconciliation. Some of our partners may have been more conservative in the past year, but a lot of people are now very active in working with us. ” 

As I said, as cryptocurrencies accelerate out of the swamp, Binance's trading volume and users are also growing steadily, moving towards stability and openness.

2. Binance users exceeded 200 million:

Why it's worth entrusting

Today, cryptocurrencies, as Stetson wrote, have not lost their sharpness and heat after the catastrophe, but "are still burning after calming down, and even more powerful after they are stable". 

This is reflected in Binance's performance and the steady growth of the number of users: in May this year, according to Coingecko's data, Binance's 24-hour trading volume remained above $16 billion, with a monthly visit of 101 million, steadily leading the world. 

Especially since November last year, the trading volume has not shown a downward trend due to legal incidents, not only has there not been any panic outflows, but in March this year, driven by the bull market cycle, the trading volume once soared to $68 billion, setting a new record. At the same time, Binance users' crypto holdings reached $115 billion, an increase of $54 billion from a year ago. 

At the beginning of June this year, Binance announced that it had surpassed 200 million users worldwide and is growing, and has exceeded 210 million so far. 

In addition to the bull market cycle, the rise in users and performance is also due to the fact that through Changpeng Zhao and others, Binance's "reliable, responsible, and user-friendly" background is seen, such as in the more than 160 letters of plea submitted to the United States court, the public was able to get a glimpse of more aspects of Changpeng Zhao. 

Changpeng Zhao's sister, Jessica Zhao, a former Morgan Stanley executive director, told a lot in the letter, handling a large number of customer withdrawals after the FTX incident in 2022; Helped more than 180,000 users recover assets totaling more than $441 million; Individual donations of nearly $5 million in the earthquake disaster in Turkey; Launched the Binance Charitable Fund; Leverage Web3 technology to support disaster relief efforts and more. 

In the fragmented era of information explosion, the sense of separation between people often makes people fall into a kind of "digital loneliness", at this time, the truth often has a thousand powers - perhaps it is these warm details that make more and more people "wait and see" from Binance's "doubters" to become Binance's partners. 

At the same time, more importantly, at the critical moment of the FTX crash and the "crisis of trust" among users, it was Binance that allowed users to still feel secure and became a solid wall in the "abyss of trust" between users and users. 

For example, to increase transparency and strengthen user trust, Binance began rolling out Proof of Reserves at the end of 2022 to verify that it has a full reserve of at least a 1:1 ratio of user assets. At the same time, in response to extreme situations, Binance has also set up a $1 billion emergency insurance fund for user funds. 

If these reflect Binance's responsibility in the past, then after Changpeng Zhao's resignation, He Yi and other management also showed corresponding resilience and a sense of the future, so that users can be sure that Binance has a future and can open up more imagination. 

He Yi once recalled that Binance faced infinite crises and dilemmas every step of the way from the first day of its launch: "On the first day of Binance's launch, BNB fell by 50%, which was the biggest dilemma that CZ faced at that time; Amazon Cloud was shut down; The APP was shut down from Google, and these are also huge dilemmas, and for us, it is good to solve problems when we encounter them. ” 

This reminds the industry of another private story about He Yi, which was a show in which He Yi recalled his experience as a host: "At that time, when I was in Qinghai and turned mountains, there was no water, no electricity, no signal, and when it was almost dark, I got lost with the army. In the distance, you can hear the howl of wolves, and in the near distance you can hear the sound of snow-capped mountains melting and creaking. ” 

Everyone has seen the ending - whether it is He Yi or Binance, they have walked out of adversity, and they have never lacked the courage to survive in desperate situations. 

At the same time, in the era of big regulation, Richard Teng also gives users a sense of security: he has more than three decades of financial and regulatory experience, having worked for the Singapore Monetary Authority ADGM. All of this allows the industry to see Binance's multiple certainties and future-oriented long-term layout. 

It is the strong resilience and the "sense of security" that bring users that allow He Yi and others to lead Binance to stage a "Egypt story". Now, as Binance and other leading players accelerate the upgrading of the industry, the industry has also ushered in a new round of reshuffle. 

Third, the industry is still burning,

Someone needs to be a "watchman in the wasteland"

After surviving the long winter, Binance was the first to hear the sound of snow melting. 

In terms of external regulation, Binance has so far obtained compliance approvals in 18 jurisdictions around the world, the highest level of compliance of any trading platform. 

Of course, in addition to the determination of external regulatory trends, in the new spring, the industry itself is also facing changes. In June this year, He Yi posted an article summarizing that the era of hair may come to an end, and there are more professional players in both the primary and secondary markets, and the market scale will be expanded: "At present, as an ordinary investor, I am afraid that the 2017 ICO, the 2021 IEO, the matryoshka doll, and even the 2023 hair picking strategy may not fit today's market. ” 

With the specialization of users, there are also higher requirements for leading companies, requiring them to provide better infrastructure and more innovative digital products and services, which coincides with Binance's long-term stance. Binance has always been committed to being a long-term cryptocurrency player, driving development with innovation, how to say: "to be a person who influences the development of the world, at least a person who participates in the progress of society", "I believe that blockchain will bring future changes and possibilities to the world." ” 

Taking Web3 as an example, Binance continues to promote the growth and adoption of Web3, such as adjusting the listing strategy, setting up incubators and accelerators, optimizing review standards, strengthening cooperation with developers, increasing investment in education and training, and incubating more projects to support Web3 entrepreneurs, so as to create more long-term sustainable value and promote the prosperity and sustainable development of the blockchain industry. 

In addition to product innovation, Binance has also been committed to being a "watchman in the wasteland" to protect the safety of users' funds. "In this emerging Wild West, where countless practitioners are playing more of a predator role, Changpeng Zhao has always insisted on doing what we should do and doing the right thing: protecting users. ” 

If the crypto industry is compared to the Wild West, Binance is to be the guardian of this wasteland. 2023 

During the year, Binance invested about $213 million in compliance programs, up 35% from $158 million last year, with FrankieOne, zkPass, and Koi Trading, among others, and will continue to invest more in KYC providers and product solutions in the future. 

This has given the industry a more stable idealism. As written in The Catcher in the Rye, the mark of an immature person is that he is willing to die vigorously for a reason, and the mark of a mature person is that he is willing to live humbly for a reason. This is only fitting for Binance, which is maturing through ongoing reconciliation and leading cryptocurrencies into the future. 

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