Криптоиндустрия на пороге новых возможностей: от токенизации до искусственного интеллекта, по словам CZ Crypto Industry on the Brink of New Opportunities: From Tokenization to Artificial Intelligence, According to CZ

On January 22, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) participated in the panel discussion New Era for Finance during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. During the conversation, he identified three promising areas for the growth of the cryptocurrency industry: asset tokenization, payments, and artificial intelligence.

According to the Binance founder, around a dozen governments are exploring the possibility of tokenizing state assets. Authorities expect to obtain additional financial benefits and direct the raised funds towards infrastructure and market development.

He highlighted the closer relationship between the cryptocurrency industry and traditional payment systems, which are increasingly utilizing digital assets «behind the scenes.» Among the promising directions, Zhao also emphasized artificial intelligence, stating that cryptocurrencies will become the native currency for AI agents in the future.

CZ asserted that cryptocurrencies have demonstrated their resilience over the past 16 years and will not vanish from the financial market. Amid this context, Binance continues to be the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, surpassing the combined scale of its five nearest competitors.

«We have over 300 million users — likely more than any bank I know of. Last year, the trading volume on our platform exceeded that of the Shanghai and New York Stock Exchanges,» he stated.

As an example of the robustness of the crypto infrastructure, CZ cited December 2023, when Binance processed $7 billion in withdrawals in a single day and $14 billion in a week without any failures.

«I don’t know of any traditional bank that could handle such a volume of withdrawals. Banking panics are caused not by technology but by systemic flaws — for instance, fractional reserve banking,” Zhao noted.

The Binance founder stated that he is working with various countries to establish an optimal regulatory framework. In his view, a unified global framework is not feasible — each government requires its own approach.

CZ predicts a significant reduction in physical bank branches over the next decade. Due to electronic verification (e-KYC) and digital infrastructure, the need to visit banks will diminish, although financial institutions themselves will not disappear.

«However, their role will fundamentally change as digital finances take over daily operations,» he emphasized.

Discussing transaction speed and cost, CZ remarked that speed does not create risks; rather, it reveals existing issues more quickly. He stated that slowing down systems does not eliminate vulnerabilities but only restricts users’ access to their funds.

The panel discussion also featured MIT Sloan School of Management global economics professor Kristin Forbes, ING Group CEO Steven van Rijswijk, Primavera Capital Group founder Fred Hu, and BNY’s development director Jayie Coffey.

Earlier, Binance Research published an annual report highlighting tokenization and privacy as key areas for market development in 2026.