在 DC 区块链峰会上接受远程采访时，币安创始人 CZ 和 The Digital Chamber 创始人兼董事会主席 Perianne Boring 回顾了加密行业过去十多年的演变：从早期被忽视，到面临严厉的监管和负面媒体压力，再到如今在美国逐渐获得更清晰的规则、更广泛的机构采用和主流认可。 CZ 将这次谈话与他即将出版的回忆录联系起来，反思了他的个人经历如何反映了加密货币行业本身的发展，并强调技术创新最终将推动该行业完全进入主流。采访还谈到了媒体叙述和法律纠纷。 CZ 辩称，包括《华尔街日报》在内的一些传统媒体长期以来以片面甚至不准确的方式描述他、币安以及更广泛的加密行业。他表示，美国联邦法院最近驳回了相关索赔，这表明司法系统更多地是由证据驱动，而不是由公共叙事驱动。 关于美国市场的前景，CZ 承认现任政府对加密货币行业的大力支持。但他补充说
认为如果美国真的想成为“全球加密货币之都”，需要的不仅仅是友好的政策。在他看来，真正的关键是更强的市场竞争、更低的交易成本和更深的流动性。此音频文字记录由 GPT 生成，可能包含错误。请在 YouTube 上观看完整采访的原始视频。 回顾十多年的数字资产 Perianne：在某些方面，我觉得我们当时试图解决的一些挑战今天仍然存在。也就是说，特别是在华盛顿，我们也取得了真正的进展。当您回顾过去10年、12年或15年的数字资产行业时，您印象最深刻的是什么？您如何衡量这个行业的成功？您认为我们实际上已经取得了多大的进步？CZ：当然。我
In a remote interview at the DC Blockchain Summit, Binance founder CZ and The Digital Chamber founder and board chair Perianne Boring looked back on the crypto industry’s evolution over the past decade-plus: from being largely ignored in its early days, to facing heavy-handed regulation and negative media pressure, to now gradually gaining clearer rules in the U.S., broader institutional adoption, and mainstream recognition. Tying the conversation to his upcoming memoir, CZ reflected on how his personal journey has mirrored the growth of the crypto industry itself, stressing that technological innovation will ultimately push the sector fully into the mainstream.
The interview also touched on media narratives and legal disputes. CZ argued that some traditional outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, have long portrayed him, Binance, and the broader crypto industry in a one-sided or even inaccurate way. He said the recent dismissal of related claims by a U.S. federal court suggests the judicial system is driven more by evidence than by public narratives.
On the outlook for the U.S. market, CZ acknowledged the current administration’s strong support for the crypto sector. But he added that if the U.S. truly wants to become the “global crypto capital,” it will take more than just friendly policy. In his view, the real keys are stronger market competition, lower trading costs, and deeper liquidity.
This audio transcript was generated by GPT and may contain errors. Please watch the original video on YouTube for the full interview.
Looking Back on More Than a Decade of Digital Assets
Perianne: In some ways, I feel like some of the challenges we were trying to solve back then are still with us today. That said, especially in Washington, we’ve also made real progress. When you look back at the past 10, 12, or 15 years of the digital asset industry, what stands out to you? How do you measure the industry’s success, and how far do you think we’ve actually come?
CZ: Absolutely. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately, mainly because I’ve been working on that “painful” book of mine, which should be coming out in a few weeks. I think we first met around 12 or 13 years ago.
I still remember very clearly that at the 2014 Bitcoin Conference in Chicago, you spoke on the panel right before me. You were talking about the BitLicense, which was a huge topic at the time. By the time I went on stage, it felt like most of the audience had already been drawn in by your session. That moment really stuck with me.
Back then, an industry conference might have had only around 200 people. Today, depending on the location, it’s easy to see 5,000 or even 10,000-plus attendees.
Vitalik was only about 19 at the time and was still just talking about Ethereum. Today, Ethereum has grown into an asset with a market cap in the hundreds of billions. So from where I stand, this industry has come a very long way since around 2013.
In the first five years, we were mostly ignored. In the next five, we ran into a lot of resistance — there were definitely plenty of forces pushing against us. And now, we’re finally starting to be accepted.
Today, the U.S. is taking the lead globally in moving crypto regulation forward, and regulatory clarity is improving day by day. Even just in the past couple of days, we’ve seen the SEC send even clearer signals. That’s a huge step forward.
So now, we’re finally moving into the mainstream, and institutional adoption keeps growing. The road has definitely had its ups and downs, but the industry has made it this far.
Writing in Prison: CZ Wants the World to See the Real Him
Perianne: No question about that. Especially yesterday, right here on this stage, we heard some very encouraging news about progress on the regulatory front. Only with a clear legal framework in place can companies truly build and operate in the U.S. market, and only then can investors participate with real confidence.
You just mentioned your book. And it’s definitely not a “stupid book.” I know it’s coming out soon, and you were generous enough to send me an advance copy, which I’ve already finished. It’s a memoir, and I have to say — it’s an incredible story. Really compelling from start to finish.
Even though I’ve known you for many years, I still came away from the book feeling like I understood you on a deeper level. You share a lot about your personal life, and it also shows how many challenges you’ve gone through, both personally and professionally. What struck me most is that no matter what you went through, you never abandoned your principles, and you never lost who you really are. You’ve always come across to me as someone very genuine — someone who never puts on an act for anyone. Before Binance, before Bitcoin and crypto, and even today, you’re still the same CZ. So what made you decide to write this book? And tell us a bit more about what drove you to write it, and what kind of person you hope readers will come to know through it.
CZ: Sure. I started writing the book while I was in prison. At the time, I didn’t really have much to do, so I thought writing a book would at least give me something meaningful to focus on.
But at the same time, it also pushed me to seriously reflect on my life. I’m really just an ordinary person, even though my life story has been a bit of a roller coaster — and in some ways, pretty unusual.
I came from rural China and eventually built one of the world’s leading crypto companies. Of course, luck played a role, and so did a huge amount of hard work. But at the end of the day, I still see myself as a regular person. When I was 14, I was flipping burgers at McDonald’s for C$4.50 an hour. So I’ve always believed that what I’ve done isn’t out of reach for other people. Others could follow a similar path and achieve something big too.
With this book, first, I want people to understand me better. Second, I hope it can give more founders — especially young entrepreneurs — a bit of courage and some useful perspective from my experience. I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’m an ordinary person, but maybe my story isn’t so ordinary.
Why the Negative Narrative Around Crypto Never Seems to End
Perianne: It really is an incredible example. You came from a very ordinary background in rural China and went on to found, launch, and successfully run one of the biggest companies in the industry. That’s deeply inspiring. I think stories like that will keep resonating for years to come, and will continue to inspire kids around the world — to show them that with hard work, determination, and a real commitment to education, they can do remarkable things and change their own future. I think you embody that spirit.
And I also think your personal story mirrors the trajectory of crypto, Bitcoin, and digital assets more broadly. We both came from that very early, very overlooked stage. You and I were both there in the earliest days of this industry. Back when this asset class was just getting started, it was under intense scrutiny from day one. That’s part of why we founded The Digital Chamber — because at the time there was so much fear, criticism, and regulatory pressure around the space. A lot of people wanted to kill Bitcoin before it had a chance.
I’m specifically saying Bitcoin because, back then, it was basically just Bitcoin. We didn’t yet have the explosion of crypto assets and digital assets that came later. That was where it all began. Today, of course, we’ve grown into a much bigger ecosystem.
But one of the core issues we were trying to address at the time was the constant media refrain after Silk Road and Mt. Gox that “Bitcoin is dead.” It wasn’t dead. And even today, they still say it. It’s misleading, inaccurate, and just not true. At the same time, the media kept pushing the idea that this technology was only useful for illicit finance — that it was the currency of choice for criminals. And those same narratives still keep resurfacing today.
So let’s talk about the media — and the headlines we’re still seeing now. A lot of those headlines look almost identical to what we saw 10 or 12 years ago. Same playbook, same framing.
Personally, I think it’s pretty obvious that some people are deliberately pushing a certain narrative and spreading misinformation in order to slow this industry down and suppress innovation in digital assets. Even today, despite the fact that we now have a much more pro-crypto Congress, growing bipartisan attention on crypto policy, and the first openly pro-crypto president in U.S. history, there are still powerful forces trying to hold this industry back — and a big part of that fight is happening through the media.
And a lot of that criticism has been directed at you. Not just you, of course — others too. But as someone who has known you for a long time, when I see some of the things being said about you publicly, there’s a real sense of disconnect, because I know a lot of it simply isn’t accurate. So in your view, what’s the biggest misunderstanding the media has about you? For people who’ve never had the chance to meet you or really spend time understanding who you are, what do they get most wrong?
CZ: Sure. First of all, I think the media itself is pretty fragmented. Crypto-native media generally understands me, because I spend a lot of time communicating on Twitter. But I haven’t spent enough time engaging with traditional media, and that’s probably one reason some of these misunderstandings exist.
We also all know there are one or two traditional reporters whose entire career track is basically built on writing negative stories about crypto, about me, about Binance — and now also about the current administration, because it supports crypto. I’m not very involved in U.S. politics, but we’ve all seen repeated efforts to wage what people openly call a “war on crypto.” To me, there’s clearly a partisan element to that. The U.S. political system is structured around two opposing forces constantly pushing against each other, so when one side supports something, the other side is almost naturally inclined to attack it.
And at this stage, the negative narrative around crypto has become more complicated. I’ve heard arguments that some U.S. domestic players may be worried about the competition Binance could bring if it expands further into the U.S., so they may be helping fuel some of that opposition behind the scenes. At the same time, there’s also lobbying pressure from traditional banking interests, especially around issues like stablecoin yield. There are a lot of different stakeholders involved, and that creates all kinds of different media angles and narratives.
I’m not a media expert. I’ve always been much more focused on the technology itself. And I think by now it’s already very clear that this technology is revolutionary and will become a foundational part of the future. So no matter what the media says, I think they’ve simply been wrong on a lot of things — for different reasons.
As for me, I probably haven’t spent enough time talking to traditional media, and maybe that’s something I should do more of going forward. But that’s not really where my strengths are. My strength has always been building platforms that people actually use. I’m no longer running Binance day to day, but through investing and mentoring, I’m still helping more founders build real products and companies. That’s where most of my focus is now.
As for the media narrative, I think it will eventually change with time. Especially as crypto continues to gain adoption, sooner or later it will become mainstream. And once that happens, everything else will start to look marginal by comparison — and the narrative will have no choice but to change.
CZ: A Lot of What’s Been Said About Me Is Simply Not True
Perianne: I do think you should probably spend a little more time talking to the reporters who are constantly writing about you — especially when they keep publishing things that I know firsthand just aren’t true. Anyone who has actually spent real time with you can see pretty clearly that you’re not just generous, but genuinely kind.
There’s one small moment I still remember from years ago. I saw you at an event, and someone standing next to you had a plastic tab from their coffee lid get blown off by the wind. It hit you first, then fell to the ground. So suddenly there was this piece of trash in front of you that wasn’t even yours. But you still bent down, picked it up, and took care of it — with a smile, very naturally, very calmly.
To me, that says a lot about your character. The way someone handles the smallest everyday moments, and the way they treat ordinary people around them, usually says a lot about how they move through life and work more broadly. And honestly, I think that’s exactly the part of your public image that people misunderstand the most.
CZ: I really appreciate that you even remember a tiny detail like that. I vaguely remember it too, but I honestly can’t recall which event it was. Still, thank you for bringing it up.
Going back to your earlier question, I actually lost track of the main point for a second. A lot of what the media says about me today is just flat-out false.
Take Forbes, for example — they tried to portray me as someone who had become even richer over the past six months, which is basically impossible. I have no idea how they came up with that.
Then you have reporting from outlets like The Wall Street Journal, framing me as if I were somehow trying to facilitate Iran-related terrorist financing. I have absolutely zero interest in anything like that. I’m currently living in a country that is under attack from Iran, so the claim itself is absurd. And even before that, I would never have had any interest in anything remotely connected to that kind of activity.
And I can say very clearly: no exchange, and no legitimate business, would want anything to do with that. There’s no upside. At most, you’d earn a bit of trading fee revenue, and it would never be worth it.
So the logic behind these narratives is usually the same: they latch onto any negative angle they can find and try to weaponize it. There are definitely a lot of misunderstandings out there. As for the motives behind these attacks, to some extent I can understand that different people have different agendas and incentives.
But the problem is that the way these attacks are carried out is often based on information that is completely wrong and has no factual basis at all. I hope that changes over time.
That said, I believe the truth comes out in the end. We’re already seeing that happen — truth gets established in court through evidence, while the other side often isn’t relying on evidence at all. And that process is already playing out now.
What Recent Court Rulings Say About the Media’s Unfair Accusations
Perianne: Let’s talk about that, and thank you for bringing it up. For years, the core narrative aimed at this technology and this entire industry has been that Bitcoin and crypto have only one real use case: illicit finance. And now that same narrative keeps getting projected onto you personally, and onto the company you built, Binance. We’ve seen a lot of those accusations in the media recently.
But as you just mentioned, these matters have actually gone through the courts. Why don’t you walk us through what’s happened? You’ve had some very meaningful wins lately. And honestly, I find it a little strange that the same media outlets and reporters who obsessively cover you, Binance, and anything tied to so-called “illicit finance” go wall-to-wall when the negative narrative breaks — but the moment you or Binance make progress in court, they suddenly go quiet and stop updating the story.
And those developments are actually very important, yet they’ve barely been covered. So why don’t you just tell everyone directly what’s happened. Because from the court’s point of view, when decisions are made based on facts and evidence, the conclusions clearly do not always match the image the media has been trying to paint of you and Binance.
CZ: Sure. First, just to be clear, I’m not a lawyer, so what I’m about to say may not be perfectly precise in legal terms. This is just my own understanding.
I, Binance, and sometimes Binance.US as well, have been sued together in cases tied to terrorism financing allegations. They usually name all three of us as defendants. If I remember correctly, these were ATA cases — anti-terrorism related lawsuits. What they tried to do was connect those cases to my 2023 plea agreement with the U.S. government, then layer in media reporting on top of that to build the narrative they wanted.
But courts rely on evidence. In just the past two weeks, two U.S. federal courts dismissed these cases. The judges’ view was basically that the plaintiffs had submitted something like 900 pages, but without actual evidence. I remember the court using language along the lines of “lengthy and unnecessary.” In other words, they produced 900 pages and more than 3,000 paragraphs, trying to strengthen their argument through sheer volume, but without presenting substantive proof.
So honestly, I’m very grateful for the U.S. court system. I think the U.S. judicial system is well designed overall. It’s independent, and it cares about evidence. The media can publish whatever negative narrative it wants, but courts look at proof — and in the end, the courts dismissed these cases twice. This has happened twice in two different U.S. courts over the past two weeks, and that says a lot by itself.
But as you said, the mainstream media has barely covered it at all. That also makes their bias pretty obvious.
To me, the situation is already very clear. I just hope more people start to see it for what it is. Unfortunately, a lot of people still rely only on what I’d call traditional media, and that does shape how they view us. That’s the unfortunate part. All we can do is keep putting in the work to correct those distortions.
The Real Drivers of U.S. Crypto Competitiveness: Competition, Liquidity, and Infrastructure
Perianne: Yes, and I think you’ve actually been pretty restrained — and pretty generous — in how you’ve framed it. But I agree with your view. We’re here in the U.S. at the DC Blockchain Summit, and the core theme of this event is obviously policy and regulatory change. I know you generally prefer not to comment too much on U.S. politics, but the U.S. is now clearly aiming to become the “global crypto capital,” and that’s a direction the current administration is actively pushing. You’ve also publicly said you support that goal.
So what does the U.S. need to do to stay competitive in this space? Over the past few years, a lot of forces tried to push this industry out of the U.S. and drive it offshore — and to some extent, they actually succeeded. So how do we preserve a competitive environment where digital asset investors and companies still want to build, operate, and grow in the U.S.?
CZ: Sure. First of all, I think the current U.S. administration has actually done an excellent job. Like you said, the previous administration basically pushed a lot of founders, startups, and innovators out of the country. I personally saw many of them move to the UAE — to places like Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Others went to Singapore, Hong Kong, and other parts of the world.
But recently, we’ve started to see that trend reverse: those founders are beginning to come back to the U.S.
The U.S. is once again attracting talent. And it has always had very strong fundamentals for innovation — whether that’s venture capital, Silicon Valley, New York’s financial system, Wall Street-level finance and tech talent, or deep pools of industrial and investment capital. Those structural advantages are already there.
And honestly, I think the U.S. policy environment today is already quite positive — more positive than I expected. If you had asked me two or three years ago, I never would have imagined the U.S. could become this supportive of crypto in such a short period of time.
But to be blunt, I think what the U.S. still needs now is more competition.
The U.S. was built on capitalist principles, and the core of capitalism is a free market and free competition. I recently spoke with some very important, influential, and highly intelligent people in the U.S., and one line really stuck with me: competition is the best form of consumer protection. I think that’s absolutely true for America as well.
If I look at it purely from the perspective of someone who has operated exchanges, trading fees in the U.S. are still too high. And that effectively means U.S. consumers are not getting prices that are as good as what’s available in international markets. That’s also why I believe the main liquidity pools are not in the U.S. right now.
And if you compare that with traditional markets — stocks, futures, FX — the deepest liquidity is usually in the U.S. So the fact that crypto’s largest liquidity pools are not in the U.S. is actually pretty strange. I think that’s one of the missing pieces right now.
The same logic applies in other industries too. Take the internet or e-commerce: in the U.S., Amazon often offers some of the best pricing in the world, and most other markets don’t give consumers a better deal than the U.S. does. But in crypto, U.S. consumers still don’t have access to the best pricing globally. I actually think that’s a very fixable problem.
The U.S. has massive institutional capital, abundant funding, and a very deep capital base. It absolutely has the ability to become the world’s largest liquidity hub. Especially now that the policy framework is gradually taking shape, I think it’s only a matter of time. But as things stand today, the U.S. market still lacks truly sufficient competition.
Perianne: Exactly. If the U.S. wants to become the global crypto capital, then it needs the best infrastructure in the world. And that also means the U.S. needs to work with the best and largest companies globally to make sure that infrastructure truly serves American retail investors, American institutions, and crypto businesses operating in the U.S.
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