TL;DR

Abu Dhabi strategic investment:

• Binance chose Abu Dhabi because of its regulatory framework and strategic positioning, not its funding needs. The UAE's compliant environment provides Binance with a key fulcrum for its global development.

Meme coin ecosystem:

• Meme coins reflect the creativity of the community, but their high-risk attributes are significant.
• Binance supports innovation, but needs to balance user education and risk warnings.
• Trump's coin issuance: Most celebrity tokens are created by third parties to attract attention. Public figures should focus on long-term value projects.

Binance listing strategy:

• Binance cannot become a place where big players reap profits. It is not recommended that the exchange act as a "screener". We are optimistic that decentralized exchanges (DEX) will become the mainstream in the future.
• It is recommended that the project party disclose the lock-up mechanism and adopt a third-party smart contract to enhance transparency.

Industry Development:

• From "issuing coins requires building a chain" to the ERC-20 standard, the technical threshold has been lowered but the core logic has not changed (community consensus is value).
• The industry needs to break through financial speculation and explore practical applications such as government identity authentication and DeSci.

Ethereum and L2:

• Missed the Ethereum investment, but affirmed its foundational role in DeFi.
• Ethereum’s current bottleneck is insufficient innovation at the application layer, not a technical issue.

Prison Experience:

• 4 months in prison reshaped my life priorities and made me realize the importance of family and health.
• I lost 6 kg in weight but am healthier. The mental stress comes from uncertainty.

Education Project Giggle Academic:

• Aims to address global education inequality through gamified learning and develop skills that enhance employment (such as AI data annotation).

Future layout:

• Investment direction: Focus on three major areas: Web3 infrastructure, AI, and DeSci (decentralized science).
• Vision: To support thousands of entrepreneurs, create sustainable unicorn projects, and reshape the industry landscape.

In 2013 , a 36-year-old entrepreneur came to Las Vegas, where he met a 19-year-old young man. The two men were very different in age, but unlike the gamblers who came here in search of excitement and wealth, the older man saw a pure geek spirit in the eyes of the 19-year-old, and he knew he had come to the right place.

A month later, he sold his house in Shanghai and used all the proceeds to buy Bitcoin, a move that caused confusion and opposition from people around him. Because not long after that, the price of Bitcoin began to plummet, while Shanghai's housing prices ushered in a new round of surge, which made his behavior seem very stupid at the time.

However, he became good friends with the plain-looking young man. This simple young man looked like a backpacker and once lived in his house, sharing a bunk bed with his son and teaching his son what "smart contracts" are. It was from then on that their fate began to change drastically.

Later, the young man founded a blockchain network worth over $200 billion - Ethereum. And he founded the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange - Binance. The names of these two protagonists are Vitalik and CZ.

CZ has many labels and identities. People prefer to call him CZ. As the founder and largest shareholder of Binance, he was once named the "richest Chinese" by Chinese media, but he denied it. In the crypto community, he is the first crypto KOL with more than 10 million Twitter followers, and young people who love memes like to call him "Cousin". Like those crazy entrepreneurs, his life was not always smooth sailing. In 2024, he spent four long months in a US prison, which was his darkest moment.

Recently, Foresight News had a conversation with one of the most important figures in the crypto space, and he told Foresight News that before the interview began, he was still discussing biotechnology with Vitalik. 12 years have passed, and the lives of the two have changed dramatically, but the natural connection between humans seems to have never changed.

The following is the full text after editing:

Foresight News: Recently, Abu Dhabi's investment institution MGX (established in 2024 and closely related to the Abu Dhabi government and royal family) invested US$2 billion in Binance, which is the largest single financing in the crypto field to date. Why did Binance choose to establish a strategic partnership with an investment institution in Abu Dhabi?

CZ: Yes, this is a strategic investment. In fact, Binance is not short of money, and its growth has never been restricted by funds.

When accepting this type of investment, one must definitely consider the strategic assistance. At present, the United Arab Emirates, where Abu Dhabi is located, has a high strategic significance in terms of compliance and regulatory terms and government support for the entire digital currency industry. It is true that other state-owned funds or investment institutions have approached us for negotiations, but we generally only choose partners that are of strategic significance.

Foresight News: You have been very active on X recently, which is different from your image in the last cycle. Regarding Meme coins, crypto leaders in the circle have different opinions. What do you think of the Meme trend?

CZ: There are several points here. I have always interacted a lot with others on the X platform, but I rarely interacted with the Meme Coin community before. In 2024, I was dealing with US-related affairs and paid less attention to the entire industry. I also had no internet access for 4 months because I was in prison.

So I did interact less in the community during that period, but I had always interacted frequently before, and I personally also enjoyed communicating and learning with the community. Recently, I interacted with the Meme Coin community to understand what the Meme Coin ecosystem is like. I have never bought Meme coins myself, nor have I participated in the "Tugou" project. Since I have never been exposed to it, I want to learn more about it through interaction and asking questions.

They asked me if I had a pet. I guessed that someone might want to issue coins using the name of a pet. I didn’t object to this, so I posted my dog’s name. As a result, everyone really issued coins based on it, and even formed a project similar to pet battle (PVP). I have never come across this kind of thing before, but after observing it in the community, I found it quite interesting. Later, everyone asked me to choose which coin was real, because there were several memes with the same name with relatively large market capitalizations. But I didn’t want to do that, because the several Meme coins involved had a lot of users, and choosing one would definitely hurt the feelings of other users, so I didn’t participate.

If there are new and interesting projects, I have no problem interacting with them. Apart from buying TST and Mubarak with BNB, I have not bought any other Meme coins. Interacting with the community is a learning process for me, and everyone can see that I am learning. I think the Meme Coin ecosystem is quite interesting, and now I have some understanding of it.

Foresight News: What changes have there been in the current interactions on the Web3 chain, such as the gameplay related to Meme coins, compared to when you first came into contact with the Bitcoin white paper, in the transaction experience and usage experience of blockchain?

CZ: There are similarities and also changes. Early digital currency enthusiasts all advocated freedom and decentralization. After the emergence of Bitcoin, issuing new coins required creating a new chain, which required 20,000 lines of code. This was the case with Ethereum, China's Ant (later changed to NEO, and is not as popular now as before), and so on.

Later, Ethereum launched the ERC20 standard, which means that there is no need to develop a new chain to issue coins, just write a smart contract. So a wave of ICO projects emerged in 2017, and at that time you had to write at least a 10-page white paper and build a website.

It’s even easier now. You can create a project just by posting a picture. The threshold for issuing coins is getting lower and lower, the community size is getting bigger and bigger, and the amount of funds is becoming more and more sufficient. But the core logic is that as long as someone recognizes a certain concept and issues currency, and someone participates, it will have a price. If no one participates, it will have no price.

Of course, there are also many projects that are actually developing products and platforms. Today's Meme coin culture is quite unique and novel, and there are several factors that have led to its rise.

First, people are somewhat dissatisfied with the traditional VC model. Traditional VCs invest in projects in the early stages and then start to exit after they go public. The founders also sell their shares, and retail investors take over. Moreover, the previous US government and the US Securities and Exchange Commission believed that many currencies have securities attributes, while Meme Coin claimed that it had no practical use and was just fun, thus avoiding possible legal disputes.

In addition, the investment mentality of many small retail investors is to use a small amount of funds, such as 100-2000 US dollars, to change their lives by multiplying it 10 times or 100 times. Taking all these factors into consideration, Meme coin became popular. I think Meme coin is very risky and has obvious price fluctuations, but the advantage is that it is relatively open and transparent. I'm not sure how long it will last, but since the community is so enthusiastic, we will support it. My way of thinking has always been to see the direction of the community and then support it. At the same time, we will continue to support entrepreneurs and platforms that truly have business models, income, and users. Although there have been changes in form, the core concept of the industry has not changed much over the years.

Foresight News: Even Trump is involved in the issuance of Meme Coin. He is the first president in human history to issue Meme Coin. What do you think about the president issuing currency?

CZ: As far as I know, this Trump coin is not necessarily issued by Trump himself. He does not have much actual connection with the issuance of the coin. It may be issued by a third party in his name. Although he has acquiesced to some extent, I am not very clear about the specific degree of involvement and interest connection. I have heard very little about it.

I think the subsequent issuance of coins by people like Melania, Miley, etc. may be exploited by others. If they themselves announce the issuance of a coin, that is one thing, but if someone else borrows their name and asks them to help forward and promote it, in this case they may not have enough understanding of the industry and may be exploited.

I think influential people should be cautious when issuing coins. The coins they issue should have long-term value, long-term application scenarios, and bring long-term benefits. Nowadays, many stars and celebrities, especially retired ones, want to make a fortune from this. This mentality is understandable, but I think it is not a good idea. For influential figures who are still in service, they should focus on issuing tokens with long-term use value.

Foresight News: As the world's largest cryptocurrency trading platform, Binance has always had a headache with listing coins. What do you think about the listing of VC coins and Meme coins?

CZ: Regarding the listing of VC coins and Meme coins, from my point of view, after the exchange becomes larger, listing coins is a very complicated matter. As a Binance shareholder, the last thing I want is for Binance to become a place where big investors take advantage of retail investors. This is not good for Binance users, Binance itself, or the entire industry.

But if we go to the other extreme, it is not good to list coins with small market capitalization too early. For example, if a coin has a market value of only 5 million US dollars, and Binance now has 250 million users, if everyone comes to buy a little, the price may be driven up very high, and then fall again without support, forming a "pin-pump" market, which is also not good.

Therefore, it is best to find a balance in the middle and list the coin as early as possible, but the token must have a sufficient market value to avoid being manipulated, and the holders must be dispersed and cannot be controlled by a few VCs or large investors. In addition, whether it is VC or big investors, it is best to lock the positions for a long time. It is recommended to use a third-party locking solution instead of the project party controlling the smart contract itself. We recently invested in a company called Sign, which is a third-party lock-up solution controlled by smart contracts.

Of course, if the project founder is very capable, the product has a large number of users, and is unwilling to adopt this model, we also need to make a trade-off.

Listing coins is indeed complicated. I am not involved in Binance’s decision-making on listing coins, but I think some of their recent actions are quite interesting. In fact, I have written in my blog before that there should be no concept of listing coins. A platform with a large number of users should allow users to buy any currency in the blockchain world, whether on-chain or off-chain, allowing users to choose for themselves rather than being screened by the platform. I think this is the right direction. The blockchain industry should not have middlemen to help users make decisions. The platform only needs to provide access services. I said many years ago that decentralized exchanges will be larger than centralized exchanges in the future. I think this will definitely come true.

Foresight News: As the largest shareholder of Binance, do you still believe that decentralized exchanges will be more important than centralized exchanges in the future?

CZ: I still think so.

Foresight News: You recently announced your investment portfolio on Binance Square, of which BNB accounts for 98.5%, BTC accounts for 1.32%, and the rest is 0.17% of tokens airdropped to you by an early payment project. You’ve never held Ethereum, what’s your holding philosophy? Why no other tokens?

CZ: What is displayed in Binance Square is my personal wallet. In fact, at different times, we have had some Ethereum to a greater or lesser extent, but never to the level of investment. BNB was first issued based on the Ethereum ERC standard, so we will definitely use Ethereum.

But from my personal perspective, I completely missed the investment opportunity in Ethereum. I have known Vitalik (founder of Ethereum) since I entered the industry in 2013, when the industry was very small. We met several times in 2014 and attended exhibitions together.

In 2015, he went to Shanghai and originally wanted to live in my house. Because my house was small, I arranged for him to live at a friend's house. Later, he went to Japan and lived in my house, slept on bunk beds with my son, and taught my son some blockchain-related knowledge.

Ethereum was basically formed in 2015. When he told me about this project, I questioned it. I thought it would be difficult to implement such complex functions on the blockchain using a Turing-complete language, so I never invested. Later, Ethereum increased by thousands of times, and I did miss an opportunity.

However, I have always had a good relationship with Vitalik, and this morning I talked to him about investment opportunities in the biomedical field.

Although I have not invested in Ethereum, I think Ethereum has made great contributions to the industry. Only with Ethereum can there be the ERC20 standard, and only then can there be a series of subsequent projects. It is now the second largest coin by market capitalization. Although there are some problems at present, such as network congestion and slow processing speed, and people complain a lot, but Vitalik is still very young and there is still a lot of room for development in the future.

Foresight News: What do you think about the current situation and future of Ethereum? Has Ethereum reached a development bottleneck now?

CZ: It is difficult for me to evaluate Ethereum specifically. Vitalik is a genius, and his personality is quite different from mine. He doesn’t like social interaction and is more focused on technology research and development. Maybe because I’m young and have been criticized many times online, I don’t pay much attention to outside comments.

I think there is not much difference between L2 and L1 now. Our research found that at this stage, the difference between L1 and L2 is not very obvious. Currently, except for Bitcoin, the carrying capacity of other chains has not yet been saturated, and there is enough space to carry more transactions.

What is more lacking now are on-chain applications. The transfer function is basically mature, but various practical applications are relatively scarce. I encourage everyone to develop on-chain applications. BNB Chain and Yzi Labs both strongly support everyone in developing applications, such as social media, AI, bioscience data collection, and using blockchain for government identity authentication and other scenarios.

Foresight News: Since the birth of blockchain, most of the innovations that have emerged are related to finance, such as ICO, DeFi, etc. Apart from finance and making money, in which direction do you think this industry should go?

CZ: In my opinion, the industry development can be basically divided into two major parts. One part is finance-related, including transfers, investments, ICOs, DeFi, etc. The other area is less developed at present, but I think it has more potential than the financial field.

Since the birth of Bitcoin, there has been an idea that anything that requires notarization should be placed on the blockchain, but the demand was not strong enough before and related applications were not developed. Now, starting from the United States, people like Musk have proposed using blockchain to improve government efficiency. I have been in contact with many governments recently, and they all have similar ideas, such as the UAE government. To realize these ideas, we may first need decentralized on-chain identity authentication (DID). With this identity, it can be used in scenarios such as opening a bank account, applying for a visa, entry and exit, real estate and land registration, seeing a doctor in a hospital, graduation diploma certification, government procurement, securities investment, real estate investment, etc.

Although it is still in the trial stage, I see a lot more attempts than before. Just like when the Internet first appeared, video conferencing technology has developed for a long time and is only now gradually maturing. The same goes for blockchain technology. Although it is uncertain when these applications will be fully developed, I see many people working hard. Yzi Labs is also involved in many such projects, and we have invested heavily in this area.

Foresight News: You spent a lot of time researching DeSci last year. What do you think about the development of such projects? Does it make sense to use blockchain to fund them? Or is this just a short-term trend like Meme Coin?

CZ: This type of project (a project that combines scientific research and blockchain) is definitely meaningful in the long run. It is completely different from Meme coin. The research and development cycle of the DeSci project is very long. For example, researching drugs to treat cancer and grow hair takes a long time.

Currently, global pharmaceutical research and development funds are basically controlled by a few large pharmaceutical companies, and their starting point is more to pursue profits rather than cure all diseases. To take an extreme example, if a scientist discovered a low-cost method to cure all cancers, big pharmaceutical companies might be reluctant to promote it because it would affect their existing large industrial chain and huge profits.

But many scientists and medical researchers lack funding when doing university or personal research and are unable to set up decent laboratories to conduct experiments. They probably require a small amount of money, around $100,000 – $500,000, and the annual costs are similar. Blockchain financing is relatively easy, and there are many people around the world willing to invest in these scientists. Through blockchain smart contracts, the use of funds can be restricted. For example, only $100,000 to $200,000 can be taken out each year. Funds will only be released after the project reaches certain milestones and after community voting.

If scientists stop continuing their research, they will not receive further funding. After the project is successfully developed and patents and income are obtained, it should also be given back to investors.

It’s just that the project cycle is long, and the attention span of investors in the digital currency industry is generally short. Meme coins are very popular, so this type of project is not getting much attention. But in the long run, such projects will make great contributions to mankind and society. I believe they will develop in the future, but I am not sure about the specific time.

Foresight News: You have an educational project called "Giggle Academic", which seems to have nothing to do with cryptocurrency or finance. Why did you try to do education? I even wonder if this has something to do with your family background?

CZ: It’s hard to say whether family background has any influence, but it definitely has some influence subconsciously. I think education is very important. Last year, when I had nothing to do in the United States, I was thinking about what I could do to have the greatest positive impact and make the most of my time.

After much thought, in the long run, education may be the most worthwhile area to invest in. It's not from the perspective of making money, but from the perspective of positive influence. There are many problems in the current education system. Textbooks have not been updated for 20 to 30 years, and classroom education also has great limitations. Classroom education is an average education for 20 to 30 children. If a child is good at mathematics but poor at English, he or she may be asked to reduce the time spent on learning mathematics and spend more time learning English. In the end, the children produced are all of average level.

But the future world will be an era of global competition. For example, as a programmer, everyone now uses AI to write code. You must be better than a million other people. You need to give full play to your expertise rather than pursuing average development. Moreover, there are approximately 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion people in the world who cannot go to school, of which 700 million to 800 million are adults, two-thirds of whom are women who are illiterate, and 300 million to 500 million children are not in school. Solving these problems by building schools is very inefficient.

With our current level of technology, we can fully utilize gamification, using mobile phones and iPads (Android tablets are also very cheap) to build an educational platform that allows children to learn while playing games. I formed a team at that time, which initially consisted of only three or five people, and now has about 30 people. We have developed thirty or forty courses. These courses are very playful and children will be immersed in them as soon as they come into contact with them, learning about letters, colors, new words and other knowledge. Everyone likes them very much.

I have calculated that a first-grade English course would cost a maximum of $1 million, a twelve-grade course would cost $12 million, and if 30 different courses were to be offered, including English, math, biology, science, etc., it would cost about $300 million. The United States subsidizes the education sector at $110 billion every year. We only need to spend 0.3% of that to digitize all the 18 years of educational content in schools and teach it directly to children through the platform.

I am not doing this project for the purpose of making money. All the content is free. I think the return on investment (not the monetary return, but the return on social impact) is higher than any charity or donation, so I will keep doing it. This project makes me very happy. In the past year, I was stuck in jail for 4 months, and spent the previous five or six months preparing for the trial. I actually only did it for a few months. Now, more than 7,800 children are using our products, and many universities have only five or six thousand students. This success makes me feel very accomplished.

Our starting point is not to help children get a school diploma, but to help them find a job. A 10-year-old child can make money by doing AI data labeling. My nephew managed a gaming community of 14,000 people at the age of 13, which is also a lucrative job. But if you want to get a diploma, you need to study many subjects such as Chinese, mathematics, English, natural sciences, and physical education.

You may only need one skill to find a job, and the age limit is very loose. For example, if you are doing programming, English only needs to be enough for basic communication; if you are doing art design, the requirements for other subjects are not high either. The starting point of creating this platform is not to get African children into Harvard, but to enable them to find a job, whether it is remote work or face-to-face work , and earn 300-2000 US dollars a month, which is a very high income in Africa. Therefore, this platform has a different starting point from traditional education and will also be very different in design.

Foresight News: In addition to the vibrant crypto sector, the global macro environment is not very good this year. The tariff issue exists not only between China and the United States, but also between the United States and all its allies. The war between Ukraine and Russia has never stopped, and Israel and Hamas in the Middle East are also in continued conflict. Do you care about these macro situations?

CZ: I don’t care too much, but I am quite optimistic. I feel that the previous US government was not very friendly to encryption. This is my personal and profound experience. The new US government has only been in office for about 60 days. Just like a company changing its senior management, it will take several months for affairs to stabilize. From my point of view, we cannot expect that all problems will be solved within 10 days once the new government takes office. Many problems have accumulated over the years, such as the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has deep historical roots.

But I can clearly see that the US government is working hard to address these problems, and the solutions are much better than before. Although it cannot be resolved immediately, at least it is under active negotiation, and commercial negotiations usually take several months. At present, the US government is acting very quickly, with new initiatives every day.

This government is relatively friendly to digital currency and business as a whole. Of course, being business-friendly does not mean that stock prices will continue to rise, because this involves negotiations between countries, including issues such as taxation, such as negotiations between the United States and China, Canada, Mexico and other countries. But as long as we are talking, there is hope, so everyone should have reasonable expectations for the problems. I can clearly feel that this government is much better than it was two months ago. Although not all problems have been solved, there is at least a trend towards solving them.

I am still very optimistic about the macro environment. For the future development of AI, robots, and blockchain, several major countries must cooperate, because China's production capacity is very strong. For example, many raw materials for robots in the United States are produced in China, and the supply chain is difficult to cut off. So I am still relatively optimistic.

Foresight News: You spent four months in prison last year, an experience that is hard for ordinary people to imagine. Has this experience changed you in any way? Do you think this was a nightmare experience?

CZ: This experience was very bad, but it was not a nightmare. In American prisons, I was not physically threatened and there were no fights or anything like that, but the psychological pressure was very great.

What worried me most was that I wasn’t sure how long I would be detained. If I had known that 4 months would be enough, I might have felt more relaxed. But at the time, I was always worried that they would find reasons to detain me longer. This uncertainty brought me a lot of mental pressure.

This experience has definitely changed my perspective on life and made me realize what is important. I used to be a workaholic, but in prison, I lost all my material possessions. What I missed most was not my work, but my family and friends. Also, in prison, if you are sick, the doctor won’t care unless you are dying. You have to deal with colds and fevers on your own. This made me realize the importance of health.

There was nothing else to do in prison, so I worked out every day. Although the food was not good, I still tried to eat as much as possible. I lost 6 kilograms in 4 months, but my physical condition was still good and my muscles were more developed. After I get out, I will cherish the time with my family more and the focus of my life will change. This was a terrible experience and I don't wish it on anyone.

Foresight News: Have you ever gotten sick in prison?

CZ: Yes, I caught a cold and had a cough three or four times in four months. Common antipyretics, painkillers, and vitamin C effervescent tablets are available for purchase in prison. Less than two weeks after I was admitted, I had a sore throat and a slight fever and was due for a physical examination. I told the doctor that I was not feeling well, and the doctor said they would only check my blood pressure and weight. If I needed treatment, I could either go to the store and buy over-the-counter medication or apply to see the doctor again, but I would have to wait three weeks. So in prison, if you are sick, you basically have to buy medicine and treat yourself.

Foresight News: Is there an economic and monetary system in prison?

CZ: Yes, the maximum you can spend every two weeks is $180, and you need to fill out an application form to buy something, which is a rather complicated process. You can only buy once every two weeks. If the items you applied for are out of stock, you can't buy them, so you can't spend all of the $180, and your shopping is very limited.

Foresight News: In the crypto field, there is another important figure in prison – Sam Bankman-Fried (founder of FTX). Based on your experience, do you think he should be given another chance? What's your opinion of what he did?

CZ: I think it’s better to comment less. People may think I comment too much. I just think that any fraudulent behavior should be punished to a certain extent, after all, many people have suffered huge losses as a result. But I am not an expert in the specific punishment, so I will not comment on it.

Foresight News: What are you most concerned about at this stage? What are your plans for the next phase?

CZ: At this stage, I spend more time thinking about how to help other entrepreneurs succeed. I am not starting my own business now, but I have accumulated some experience from my previous business ventures. We have an investment fund, and if entrepreneurs need help, I can also serve as a consultant to them. Of course, there are many people looking for me, and we will do some screening. I hope to support hundreds or even thousands of successful entrepreneurs and let their projects become unicorn companies. I will be very happy because it can indirectly promote the development of the entire society. This is what I’m most interested in right now.

We now have Yzi Labs, which we basically use to invest and support entrepreneurs. I generally don’t make particularly grand plans, and I don’t plan specific things for 5 or 10 years later. I will probably look in one direction. I know that in 5 or 10 years, the blockchain industry will be bigger, the AI ​​industry will continue to develop, and biological science will be more advanced. So I will basically continue to invest in these three areas and support entrepreneurial projects.